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With the BJP looking at CPI(M)-ruled Tripura as its next big target in the North-East, the party on Wednesday approached the Election Commission to request that micro-observers be appointed in the poll-bound State.
The BJP asserted that there is an “atmosphere of fear” in the State and that maximum paramilitary forces should be deployed during the elections. Tripura has been ruled by the CPI(M) for the last 25 years.
8 Meghalaya MLAs join NDAThe architect of the BJP’s North-East expansion, former Congressman Himanta Biswa Sarma, was part of the delegation that met EC officials on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s scored in another North-East State in the North-East, Meghalaya. Eight MLAs, including five from the Congress, joined the BJP’s ally National People’s Party in the State, where elections are to be held along with Tripura.
In Delhi, the BJP underlined that the CPI(M)’s hold over the administrative set-up should not be allowed to impact the polls. “Only those government officials should be given election duty, who give a declaration that they are not members of any political party or any trade union affiliated to any political outfit,” Sarma told reporters outside the EC headquarters.
“Micro-observers should be from outside the State because CPI(M) has started giving membership to the State government employees in Tripura. The elections cannot be held with the Left party members inside the booth,” Sarma said.
Sarma, who is also a minister in the BJP government in Assam, claimed that more than 60 of the BJP’s workers were killed by the ruling CPI(M) in Tripura.
“We (BJP) have requested the Election Commission to deploy maximum paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair elections in the State,” he said.
The Left party has been ruling Tripura since 1993. The State has traditionally witnessed a two-way fight between the Congress and the CPI(M).
This time the BJP is trying to emerge as the principal opposition to the ruling Left party. The tenure of the 60-member Tripura Assembly ends in March this year.
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