Agartala: A record more than 20,000 security personnel, including Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and state force personnel, have been deployed in Tripura for elections to two Lok Sabha constituencies and by-elections to one assembly seat, officials said. Here on Friday.
A top police officer said that on the instructions of the Election Commission (EC), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has already sent 84 companies (about 8,000 personnel) of CAPFs, including the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police. Force (CRPF) has already been deployed in all the eight districts of the state.
Apart from the CAPFs, more than 10,000 Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and a few thousand state police personnel are also being deployed for the elections to be held on April 19 and April 26, he said.
“Security forces are taking containment and confidence building measures in the area to ensure normal law and order situation so that free, fair and violence-free elections can be held,” an official told IANS.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punit Aggarwal said that “Mission Violence Free Elections 2024” was launched earlier this week to ensure 100 per cent violence-free elections in Tripura.
Aggarwal said that ahead of the elections to the two Lok Sabha seats in the state, 2,500 flag marches and area dominance patrols were conducted by the CAPFs and state forces since last month. He said that various law enforcement agencies had seized drugs worth Rs 9 crore during the last month. Various banned items including.
He said that under ‘Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)’ various socio-cultural programs including making of ‘Alpana’ (a decorative design) were organized to sensitize both new and old voters to cast their votes in large numbers. Are going.
Aggarwal said that on the instructions of the Election Commission, the authorities concerned have suspended six government employees, including teachers and security personnel, who were directly involved in political activities.
Police have detained 12,000 people across Tripura under preventive arrests. Voting for the Tripura West parliamentary seat in the first phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will be held on April 19, while the second phase for the Tripura East (ST) constituency will be held on April 19. Voting will be held on 26th April.
By-election will also be held on Ramnagar assembly seat on April 19. The seat had fallen vacant after the demise of sitting BJP MLA Surjit Dutta on December 28 last year. 18 candidates, including two women, are contesting the two Lok Sabha seats, while two candidates, one each from BJP and CPI-M, are contesting the elections. Ramnagar is trying his electoral luck in the assembly by-election. The main contest for two seats in the Lok Sabha elections is expected to be between the BJP and the India Bloc, which includes Congress, CPI-M and six other parties.
