Agartala: As part of the follow-up step of the mission zero poll violence, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday launched a two-day special initiative to hold peace meetings at booth level across 60 assembly constituencies of Tripura to maintain a peaceful ambiance in the run-up to the counting of ballots of just concluded assembly election on March 2 next.
Besides representatives of various political parties, police officials of the respective localities, local clubs, associations, and eminent personalities of the booth areas attended the meeting calling upon the people to restrain violence of any sort after the announcement of election results whoever wins or loses the poll battle.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, and other election officials along with the local administration have addressed the booth-level peace meetings on Monday in half of the 3337 polling booths and the rest would be covered on Tuesday. The meetings are intended to convey the message of the ill effects of violence on society and personal life.
“The people of Tripura demonstrated an exemplary performance during the election by maintaining peace barring a few attempts to disturb the harmony and recording a huge turnout. In post-poll days there were a few reports of violence in different localities but police contained it with an iron hand. Now, we want to keep the environment remain peaceful and violence free during the counting and post-counting days which needs a collective effort,” said CEO Kiran Gitte.
He pointed out that elaborate security and administrative arrangements have been made to hold the counting of EVMs free, fair, and peaceful manner. ECI for the first time appointed one counting observer for each assembly constituency along with other initiatives. The central forces accompanied by the local police have continued the flag march and area domination activities to keep the situation normal, Gitte added.
