AGARTALA: The battle for Tripura’s upcoming Urban Body elections took a violent turn this weekend, overshadowing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s loud declarations of safeguarding democracy with grim allegations of opposition candidates being beaten and forced out of the electoral race by ruling party loyalists.
On Saturday, the Tripura Left Front Committee urgently petitioned the State Election Commissioner, outlining a coordinated campaign of violence designed to prevent CPI(M) and Congress candidates from the submitting their nomination papers.
According to Left Front Convener Manik Dey, access roads leading to the Returning Officer in Mohanpur were completely blockaded. The situation was allegedly worse in Jirania, where Dey stated that on Friday, “no opposition party representatives could attend the All Party Meeting” because BJP supporters physically assaulted a Congress representative and forced him to retreat.
“This morning, in Kamalpur, CPI(M) candidates assembled at the CPI(M) office at Kamalpur to collectively submit nominations,” Dey wrote in his complaint. “But when approaching the RO’s office, they were attacked by miscreants in front of the police.”
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Simultaneously, the BJP leadership gathered in Agartala to project strength and denounce the opposition. Former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb told a massive crowd that the ruling party would not tolerate any public disorder, accusing the Congress and CPI(M) of attempting to spread anarchy.
“If Chief Minister Manik Saha and I take to the streets together, elements like Maoists will cease to exist in this state,” Deb warned during the rally.
The Left Front, however, argued that the real threat to democracy was currently stationed outside the Returning Officers’ doors. Pointing to the 2021 elections, where BJP candidates won uncontested in Kamalpur, Jirania, and Mohanpur, Dey pleaded for immediate institutional intervention.
“Provide a police escort to the opposition candidates to reach the office of the respective returning officers,” Dey demanded in his letter. He also requested that candidates’ family members “must be given protection from the rage of the ruling miscreants for their failure to prevent nomination.”
