Against 168 re-polls in the 2019 General Elections, Tripura assembly polls concluded violence-free on Thursday Election commission of India (ECI) credits this to careful planning and thorough reviews.
Sharing details about the election arrangements, Election Commission’s Joint Director (Media) Anuj Chandak said 3,337 polling booths have been set up in the state along with 60 assemblies. There have been no reports of any major violence/attack on candidates or agents, intimidation of voters, hurling of bombs, re-polling, damage to EVMs etc.
The ECI said, “Today’s elections in 60 ACs in Tripura have been largely peaceful… Minor incidents of violence were immediately noticed by the local teams.”
theme of violence
Announcing the polls last month, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar had said that violence before, during and after elections has been confined to a few states and there is no place for electoral violence in a democracy.
However, soon after the elections were announced, political violence was witnessed in the state. Within the next few hours, the Commission, while reviewing the case of alleged assault on AICC state in-charge at Jirania, West Tripura, showed no tolerance towards violence and directed the state Chief Secretary and DGP to take stern action against biased officers. instructed.
Also, three special observers were immediately appointed by the ECI to take stock of the situation, ensure proper deployment of CAPFs and intensify enforcement measures.
Meticulous planning, regular detailed review by the Election Commission of India led by CEC Rajeev Kumar and Election Commissioners Anoop Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel along with Chief Secretaries/Directors General of Police of neighboring states and other enforcement agencies ensured the smooth conduct of elections mired in large scale violence. made sure. -in Tripura today in a free, fair, inclusive and accessible manner,” the election body said.
Listing the efforts, the ECI said that based on periodic review meetings, feedback and past experience, the Commission made elaborate security arrangements, deployed three special observers with formidable domain expertise and impeccable track record, to ensure strict To guide the field functionaries for enforcement and made special efforts to ensure peaceful and inducement free elections in the State.
Further, civil sector officials and police sector officials jointly prepared the area security plan with its location, map, boundaries, polling station locations, major political party offices, polling stations, sensitive areas and roads leading to important polling stations. Thoughtfully prepared. Apart from this, micro observers have also been deployed at polling stations.
By the end of the day, the provisional figures for the turnout stood at around 80%. The Election Commission said, “The final figures will be known after scrutiny of Form 17A by Friday.”
25 fold increase in seizures
The ECI said that the continuous efforts to monitor election expenditure in the state have achieved the goal of “loose-free” elections.
“A twenty-five-fold increase has been registered in the seizure of Rs 44.67 crore this time as compared to the previous assembly polls of 2018, where it was Rs 1.79 crore,” he said.
The increase in seizures was observed under all heads: cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and free gifts.
Till Wednesday, Rs 3.44 crore in cash was seized, while 1,40,693 liters of liquor worth Rs 2.58 crore, medicines worth Rs 26.77 crore, precious metals worth Rs 3.41 crore and free items worth Rs 8.47 crore were seized.
The counting of votes will take place on March 2.
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