Trinamool Protests Heckling Of Its Tripura Local Body Poll Candidate

Trinamool Congress leaders Thursday sat on a demonstration in front of the Tripura police headquarters in capital city Agartala after a party candidate - for the ensuing Municipal elections - was allegedly attacked by miscreants in the city in broad day light.

Trinamool alleges that it's candidate Poushali Deb, an advocate contesting for the Agartala Municipal Corporation elections on November 22, representing Ward 14, was attacked by a group of goons that they claim were backed by the ruling-BJP at Ranjitnagar area within the constituency she is contesting from.

"She was attacked and heckled with the intention of intimidation by a group of around 20-25 miscreants in front of Ranjitnagar High School. They beat up those accompanying her and with her sheer bravery, she came out of the situation. We now demand police to do something about it," said Subal Bhowmik, Trinamool convenor for Tripura said.

A group of Trinamool leaders led by party-in-charge for Tripura elections, Sushmita Dev, agitated at the Tripura Police headquarters demanding interventions in the alleged attacks on party workers.

"Time and again, ever since we have decided to campaign in Tripura, our leaders have been attacked, harassed and intimidated by the goons of BJP and so far, no arrests have been made. They have photographs, videos and CCTV footages of the attackers and yet, the police are mum in this regard," said Ms Dev, who is a Rajya Sabha member representing the party in the Upper House.

Ms Dev had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court regarding the attack on her while Saket Gokhale, an RTI activist turned Trinamool spokesman, moved the National Human Rights Commission (NRHC) regarding the "political violence" in the state. The NHRC had asked an "action taken" report from the Tripura government.

"These attacks are not on TMC but, on Tripura residents as the candidates are from this state. We would like to point out that the police are working completely at the behest of the ruling government. We will not leave our post and if required we will go down to road blockade and hunger strike," Ms Dev told media on Thursday.

Later, a four-member delegation of Trinamool, led by MP Sushmita Dev, met Inspector General of Police GS Rao and demanded safety and security of the opposition beside assuring a peaceful civic poll which are to be held on November 25.

Tripura is holding the elections for 20 urban local bodies (ULB) that were delayed due to the pandemic on November 22, in which the ruling-BJP has come out victorious uncontested in seven.

The opposition -- Trinamool, CPI-M and TIPRA Motha -- are alleging that a lot of their candidates had either not contested or had withdrawn their nominations due to violence, threats and pressure from the "goons" of the ruling party.

TIPRA Motha founder president and Tripura royal scion alleged that they were supposed to contest five seats of Santirbazar nagar panchayat but BJP cadres did not allow them to submit nomination papers.