Tripura: BJP wins 85% rural seats uncontested; polls unfair, alleges opposition parties

AGARTALA: The BJP has won 85 per cent of the seats uncontested in panchayat polls in Tripura, amidst allegations of threats to candidates of opposition parties.nnThe rural polls are scheduled to be held in the north eastern state on July 27.nn”Of the total 6,646 seats comprising gram panchayats, panchayat samities and zilla parishads, the BJP has won 5,652 seats uncontested,” secretary of the state Election Commission, Prasenjit Bhattacharya told PTI Saturday.nnPolling will now be held for around 850 gram panchayats, 85 panchayat samities and 80 zilla parishad seats, Bhattacharya said.nnTripura has a total 591 gram panchayats having 6,111 seats, 35 panchayat samities with 419 seats and eight zilla parishads having 116 seats, he said.nnJuly 11 was the last date for withdrawal of nominations and the counting will take place on July 31.nnAltogether, 12,03,070 voters, including 6,16,893 males and 5, 86,176 women will exercise their franchise at 2,623 polling stations between 7 am to 4 pm on the polling day.nn”White ballot papers would be used for gram panchayat polls, pink ones for panchayat samities and green papers for zilla parishads,” Bhattacharya said.nnThe opposition CPI(M) and the Congress have alleged that their candidates were “threatened and attacked” by “BJP-backed goons”.nnThey have also accused “armed gangs” of the saffron party of preventing their candidates from collecting and filing their nomination papers during the scheduled nomination period from July 1 to July 8.nnAbout 121 CPI(M) candidates were forced to withdraw their nomination papers on the last day of withdrawal on July 11, the party claimed.nnBike-borne BJP workers were stationed before the election offices so that no opposition candidate could collect or submit nomination papers, it said, adding that in most of the places the police were just onlookers.nn”Physical attacks on prospective candidates and attacks on CPI(M) offices and leaders such as on the North Tripura district committee and sub-divisional office in Dharmanagar were resorted to, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation,” a statement by CPI-M said.nnVice-president of the state Congress unit Tapas Dey also accused the BJP of reducing the election into a “farce”.nn”They (BJP) did not allow many of our (Congress) candidates to file nominations and launched physical attacks on them and our supporters during filing of nominations. We were forced to withdraw 124 candidates from the fray in the face of terror by BJP goons,” he said.nnRefuting the allegations, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said candidates of the two opposition parties did not file nomination because they had lost their support base.nn”They have lost their support base and could sense their defeat in advance. So they did not file nominations,” he added.nnSource: Press Trust of India