Tripura Elections 2023: Sporadic Violence Reported

With voting underway in Tripura for the assembly seats from 7 am on Thursday, sporadic incidents of violence have been reported across the state.

As per initial reports, a party worker of CPI(M) was beaten outside Kalacherra polling booth in Shantirbaazar constituency in the South Tripura district.

A source was quoted by The Indian Express as saying, "The victim was rushed to hospital by our officials though he was not able to tell the names of attackers. Officer in-charge of the local police station has gone out for search based on photographs available. Suo Motu FIR has been lodged in Shantirbaazar PS. We will arrest the culprits soon."

This comes amid heavy deployment of security forces in Tripura with violence expected for a hotly contested state. With that in mind, ahead of the polls, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) had been imposed in Tripura by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) from 10 pm on February 13 to 6 am on February 17.

Also Read: Tripura Elections 2023 Live: BJP Looking For Win As TIPRA Poses Threat

Addressing the media in a press briefing, CEO Kiran Gitte had mentioned that stringent measures were being imposed in order to prevent any adverse law and order situation from arising with all signs pointing towards a hotly contested assembly election.

He said, “We have taken various steps to prevent any law and order issue. Before December around 100 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) arrived in Tripura. Before the declaration of election another 100 companies arrived, while after the January 18, a further 200 companies arrived here which we have deployed across Tripura. Along with that we have more than 20, 000 police and TSR deployed for security purposes across the state.”

Moreover, the Chief Electoral Officer mentioned that incidents of violence have come down in Tripura this year compared to 2018. He claimed that the number of such registered incidents of violence was around 309 in 2018; however, this time around Tripura officially logged only 100 cases of violent incidents so far till February 11.

Also Read: Tripura Polls: Sec 144 Imposed By Chief Electoral Officer