Manik Sarkar:EC to ensure fair polls, voters could not cast freely last year

Agartala: Asking the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair elections in Tripura, former chief minister Manik Sarkar alleged that the polling panel had set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the last by-elections as People could not vote freely.

His comments came just two days before the full bench of the Election Commission was scheduled to arrive in the state to review preparations for the Assembly polls.
“You have set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and by-elections to four assembly constituencies in Tripura. Genuine voters cannot freely exercise their right to vote on these two occasions,” the government said on Sunday. said while addressing a program organized by CPI(M)-backed trade union CITU at Vivekananda Ground here.

He claimed that when the CPI(M) tried to draw the attention of Election Commission officials to the alleged misbehavior of BJP workers, “the EC officials said that what happened outside the polling stations For which they are not responsible and the police will look into such complaints”.
“This time, we will not be persuaded by such remarks if genuine voters face any problem in exercising their right to vote. We remind you of your constitutional responsibility to ensure that “We want voters to be able to exercise their democratic rights without any fear or intimidation. You have to provide an environment so that every voter’s right to vote is protected,” the CPI(M) leader told an EC. Said in clear reference.

Claiming that the BJP has “no chance” of winning the upcoming assembly elections, Sarkar claimed that its power has been significantly weakened due to the importance of its ally IPFT in Tripura politics. has been lost
He added that those opposition Left leaders, who were with the BJP during the 2018 elections, returned to the Congress.

He also criticized the ruling BJP for deploying central forces in the state ahead of the elections.
We learned that 100 companies of central forces have already arrived in the state and 300 more will arrive. You can bring 1000 companies of central forces.

A heavy deployment of central forces can be a trick. He has realized that people are angry at the misrule of the present system.