No atmosphere to hold Lok Sabha polls in Tripura: CPI-M

The CPI-M has told the Election Commission that the atmosphere is not conducive for holding the Lok Sabha elections in Tripura due to "total lawlessness".

It has urged the poll panel to restore a democratic environment before holding the election, party leaders said here on Thursday.

A six-member Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) delegation led by General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and asked him "to protect democracy in Tripura".

"After the BJP-led government came to power, law and order machinery has completely broken down mostly due to the partisan acts of the state administration and police authorities," CPI-M leader Gautam Das told the media.

He said that "lawlessness, continued attack on opposition parties and inactiveness of the administration" and the consequent sense of fear and intimidation posed a major challenge to holding free, fair and peaceful polls in Tripura.

Das, the Tripura state Secretary of CPI-M, said that in the first 11 months of the BJP government, six CPI-M members were murdered, 1,515 members and supporters were injured in attacks and 445 party offices were either burnt or looted or occupied by BJP members and hoodlums.

Accompanied by three MPs from Tripura -- Jiten Choudhary, Shankar Prasad Datta and Jharna Das Baidya, the CPI-M leader said that in no case did the police arrest the culprits or even register an FIR in most incidents.

"The situation prevailing now in Tripura exists in no state in India. CPI-M and other opposition parties are not allowed to hold even indoor meetings. Police reject written appeals from the party to hold meetings. Even if the police give permission in one or two cases, the BJP men and their hooligans attack the meetings," Das said.

--IANS

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