Agartala, (Samajweekly) The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday stressed on the need for an inducement-free assembly elections in Tripura, and asked the central and state agencies to take appropriate steps in this regard, officials said.
The full Election Commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, accompanied by two Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, and several senior officials, arrived here on Wednesday afternoon to review the preparations of the forthcoming assembly polls in Tripura.
An official of the Tripura Election Department said that the Commission reviewed the preparation with the Nodal Officers of various Central and State Enforcement Agencies to ensure an inducement-free elections in the state.
Immediately after its arrival, the poll panel met the leaders of the political parties at the state guest house and then met the state and district level officials including the District Magistrates and the Superintendent of police of eight districts.
Ruling BJP, opposition CPI-M, Congress, Trinamool Congress and other parties have urged the EC to hold the assembly polls in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao and State Police Nodal Officer G.S. Rao gave a detailed presentation to the Commission regarding poll preparedness and security arrangements for Assembly elections, expected to be held later next month.
The Commission would also review the preparations with the Chief Secretary J. K. Sinha, Director General of Police Amitabh Ranjan and all the Secretaries of Tripura government on Thursday. A SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) programme would be organised by the CEO at Ujjayanta Palace premises in Agartala on Thursday where electors’ photo identity cards would be distributed to the newly registered voters by the Commission.
Before leaving the state on Thursday for poll bound Meghalaya, the CEC and the ECs would brief the media on Thursday.
From Meghalaya, the full EC would go to another poll bound state Nagaland on January 13 and would return to Delhi on January 15.
After returning to Delhi, the Election Commission would likely announce the schedule of the election in three northeastern states, considering the Class 10 and 12 examinations of the Central Board of Secondary Education.
