AGARTALA: Evoking previous controversies in Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam where genuine electors were reportedly removed from final rolls, the opposition CPI(M) on Tuesday urged Tripura’s top election authority to penalize the ruling BJP for allegedly conducting a private briefing with local Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on June 21 to distort the upcoming revision process.
In a formal memorandum addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura, CPI(M) State Secretary and Politburo member Jitendra Chaudhury drew attention to a media report published in a local daily newspaper on June 23 regarding an unauthorized meeting held in the 27-Kalyanpur-Promodenagar Assembly constituency.
According to the letter, the MLA of Kalyanpur-Promodenagar Assembly constituency, Pinaki Das Chowdhury, allegedly convened a secret meeting of BLOs on June 21 at the Lotus Community Hall in Kalyanpur. The opposition leader noted that almost all the BLOs of the constituency attended the session, where they were briefed by the MLA and other ruling party leaders.
Reportedly, no representative from the Election Authority or any other government department was present at the gathering. Chaudhury criticized the participation of the grassroots election workers, stating that it is unbelievable that the BLOs, who are entrusted with the crucial task of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, are unaware of their sense of decorum.
He further alleged that many of these officers might have joined the meeting “violating the service conduct rule under duress mounted by the ruling party leaders.”
The CPI(M) has tied this incident directly to the integrity of the upcoming state assembly elections, warning that partisan interference at this stage could lead to the targeted manipulation of voter lists. Highlighting past irregularities in other parts of the country, Chaudhury stated in his letter that a lot of controversy arose over the procedure applied in the conduct of SIR so far held in Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam.
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He noted that there are instances where “many genuine electors, mostly belonging to opposition supporters and religious minority, have been deleted from the post-revision final roll.”
The opposition party has claimed that this controversial meeting glaringly shows how the ruling party is attempting to use its position in office to subvert the primary objectives of the revision process for its own partisan interest. Consequently, Chaudhury requested the CEO to issue strict instructions to election authorities at all levels, including BLOs, to desist from responding to calls from any political party in the future.
Moreover, the letter demanded that the election authority ask for a show-cause from the BJP as to why they resorted to holding such a secret meeting in violation of electoral rules and ethical norms.
This political confrontation comes as the state prepares for the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) extensive Phase III of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which spans 16 states and three Union Territories, including Tripura.
In an official press note issued earlier on May 14, the Commission emphasized full transparency and specifically called on all political parties in Tripura to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) for every polling booth to work directly alongside the BLOs during house-to-house verification.
According to the official ECI schedule, the revision process in Tripura is set to commence with administrative preparation and training from September 5 to September 14, 2026. Following this, BLOs will undertake critical house-to-house visits from September 15 to October 14, with October 1, 2026, serving as the qualifying date.
The draft electoral roll is scheduled for publication on October 21, opening the window for claims and objections. The disposal of these claims will continue until December 19, culminating in the publication of the final electoral roll on December 23, 2026, an exercise that will fundamentally shape the voter demographics for the upcoming assembly elections.
