Agartala: The High Court of Tripura directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to dispose of the matter of forcefully withdrawing the candidature of left front candidate Nikunja Debnath of Dharmanagar Municipal Council in North Tripura a day before the scrutiny of the nomination.
A division bench comprising Justices Subhasish Talapatra and Justice S G Chattopadhyay while asking the petitioner to meet with the SEC with the decision of the high court and directed election authority to settle the matter within 24 hours after receiving the representation of the candidate.
According to the allegation, the BJP cadres had lifted Debnath on Nov 4 in the returning officer’s chamber despite it being a holiday and forced him to withdraw the nomination – a day before the scrutiny and four days before the withdrawal. He informed the matter to SEC but no action was taken and then he moved the high court seeking direction against dropping him illegally from the election contest.
The Court said SEC should review the security prospective booth wise as well the security requirement for each booth to hold the election in a fearless atmosphere. If necessary the SEC may categorise the polling stations and ensure adequate security at least 24 hours before the polling date.
In another case of a CPI candidate who faced an alleged attack by a group of miscreants on November 19 during a door to door campaign in which the petitioner and some other people were injured, the high court directed the DGP to provide the petitioner appropriate security coverage 24 x 7 till the counting of the election is over.
