Tripura pol parties welcome announcement of poll date

All major political parties in Tripura today welcomed the Election Commission's announcement of poll date for the state assembly on February 18.
Gautam Das, spokesperson of ruling CPI-M said the party welcomes the EC's decision to hold the election "on time".
"BJPs repeated conspiracy to defer the election process was foiled with the declaration of the election date," he said adding CPI-M will extend all cooperation to the EC for conducting a smooth and peaceful election.
The BJP welcoming the announcement of poll date in the state said the party's machinery was fully geared in booth level to face the election.

To a query, BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said the party had demanded Presidents Rule in the state on the grounds of escalating violence, collapse of the law and order and faulty voters list as many fake names and names of dead voters existed in the final electoral roll published on January 5 last.
A special drive was initiated to revise the voters list in booth levels of all the sixty assembly constituencies, he claimed.

Vice-president of opposition Congress, Tapas Dey said the announcement of the poll date was "timely".
"The ECI has foiled the conspiracy of those quarters, who had demanded delaying of the election date," he added.

Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), an anti-left tribal party, too hailed the declaration of the election date on February 18.
"We welcome the decision. But the voters list is still defective and there is scope for its correction before scrutiny of the nomination papers ends," INPT secretary Jagadish Debbarma said.