Claiming booth capturing and rigging, CPI-M demands fresh polls in Tripura West LS seat

Agartala, April 22 (IANS) The opposition CPI-M, alleging booth capturing and rigging, on Monday reiterated its demand for countermanding of elections, and fresh voting, in Tripura West Parliamentary constituency, which went to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 19.

Immediately after the polls on Friday, the INDIA bloc, comprising the Congress, the CPI-M and six other parties, alleged large-scale booth capturing, intimidation and malpractices and demanded the countermanding of elections to the seat.

CPI-M Tripura state Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday, submitted data from statements made by the Tripura Election Department about polling in parts of three Assembly segments under Tripura West Lok Sabha seat.

Citing the data of votes polled and the eligible electorates, he claimed that voter turnout had exceeded 100 per cent in the polling centres of Majlishpur, Kayerpur, and Mohanpur Assembly segments.

Alleging that the polling figures show a “mismatch” with real figures on the ground, Chaudhury, in his letter, said: "The records of the statement of the Election Department unequivocally vindicates that, the election to Tripura West parliamentary constituency and the by-election to Ramnagar Assembly constituency, which is a part of same Lok Sabha seat, were not held in a free, fair and normal manner."

Such mismatched polling percentages may happen only when the booths are captured and completely rigged in an organised manner, he said in the letter.

He also claimed that the figures validated the claims of the INDIA bloc partners and justified the demand to countermand elections at both seats and arrange a fresh poll to "prevent robbing off the people’s mandate and for protecting the sanctity of the democracy".

Congress Working Committee member and former minister Sudip Roy Barman expressed the same views, claiming that while the Election Commission succeeded in preventing large-scale false voting in last year’s Assembly polls, hooliganism and obstruction of voters at polling centres went on unchecked in the April 19 polls and demanded fresh polls.

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