lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 16, 2019 18:23 IST

Tripura Congress president Pradyot Kishore Deb Burman on Tuesday said that he would knock the door of the Supreme Court if the Election Commission denies making public the CCTV camera records of the Lok Sabha polls for scrutiny by the political parties.

Tripura has two Lok Sabha seats. West Tripura constituency went for Lok Sabha polls in the first phase where 83.1% voters’ turnout was recorded. The other Lok Sabha seat - East Tripura will go to the polls in the second phase on April 18. A total of 12,57,944 electorates including 6,20,291 women would exercise their franchise in total 1645 polling centres in the constituency.

Alleging violence in first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 11, Pradyot said he would meet chief electoral officer S Taranikanti to urge him to ensure free and fair poll on April 18.

“I will demand the CEO not to allow the polling personnel involved in the election in West Tripura seat and to deploy adequate central forces in all the sensitive areas. I will also demand the election authorities to make all CCTV camera footage from all polling stations public for scrutiny by all the political parties. If they deny doing so, I will move to the apex court,” Pradyot told the reporters at the Congress Bhawan in the Tripura capital.

Over 3,500 people from the ruling BJP, its alliance partner Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the CPM from different areas joined the Congress on Tuesday. One former Congress MLA Ashok Baidya, who had joined the BJP a year ago, also returned to the party.

“Everyday thousands of people are coming to the Congress. This shows that there is hope in the Congress and people are frustrated with the BJP-IPFT alliance government. Today, over 3,500 people from different constituencies have joined the Congress. The Congress is now in revival mode and can beat the ruling BJP here,” Pradyot said.

Earlier this month, IPFT vice-president Ananta Debbarma, the party’s youth leader Shuklacharan Noatia and over thousands of IPFT youth activists had joined the Congress.