Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Case against Tripura Congress President Pradyot Dev Burman
The police in Tripura have filed a case against state Congress chief, Pradyot Dev Burman, for slapping a man in police custody. The man was arrested for attacking his sister, Pragya Dev Burman's convoy in East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency yesterday. The incident was caught on CCTV camera inside the police station.
Pragya Dev Burman has been fielded by the Congress from the East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency. Polls in the constituency was pushed back from April 18 to 23, after reports of widespread election-related violence over the last few days.
Sources say, the Election Commission (EC) is likely to file First Information Reports against presiding officers and political activists, who indulged in malpractices, during the first phase of polling in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency on April 11. The election body has summoned the chief electoral officer of Tripura to New Delhi, after reports of alleged rigging and violence.
Both the Left and Congress complained to the EC about BJP workers allegedly intimidating voters during the first phase.
The BJP yesterday claimed that the poll panel was "confused by conspiracy" hatched by the CPM and the Congress in the state. "The confusion also led the EC to removing the state's Additional Director General of Police Rajiv Singh from duty," claimed senior BJP leader and state law minister, Ratan Lal Nath.
Sporadic violence between the BJP-led alliance and the opposition was reported, during the first phase, at several booths in West Tripura Lok Sabha seat. The CPM and the Congress alleged that the ruling BJP resorted to "massive rigging".
"The massive rigging was the manifestation of the BJP's frustration after realizing that its support base has eroded in the state. They (BJP) have cheated the people of Tripura by not fulfilling the promises made before last year's assembly polls," alleged state CPM secretary Gautam Das.
The Opposition parties in Tripura have asked for heavy deployment of central forces in the sensitive areas of East Tripura constituency, which is set to vote on April 23.