Complaints with insufficient evidences – Clarification of the Returning Officer for 1 – Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, April 23, 2024

In response to various complains published in few newspapers regarding election to the 1- Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency held on 19/4/2024, Dr. Vishal Kumar the Returning Officer through a Press Note assured that all the issues have been inquired and adequately addressed.Regarding the issue of Micro Observers getting pressurized to submit favourable reports, there has been no such incident in 1-Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency. All the steps have been taken so that micro observers give an objective report as per the Election Commission of India guidelines. Further, there were separate training sessions for the micro observers to ensure that they work independently and without any fear or favour. No pressure has been created on them either by the RO or the AROs. On the issue of a polling personnel getting hospitalized, the RO has personally visited the hospital and enquired about the health of the concerned person. The person is doing well and has been discharged from the hospital. Further, the hospital charges incurred by the person will be borne by the administration. Any future support regarding this will also be provided by the RO office. The administration ensures well-being of all the personnel engaged in the election duty. Regarding the complaint received from Shri Jitendra Choudhury, Secretary, CPI(M) on 22/4/24 on mismatch of polled votes and the newspaper item published in Daily Desher Katha on 20/04/2024, an enquiry was done by the AROs of the concerned assembly segments. The issue was looked into by the General Observer during the scrutiny held on 20/4/24 at 11 AM in the conference hall of office of the DM and Collector, West Tripura in presence of representatives of all political parties. A thorough scrutiny of Presiding officers’ Diary, Micro Observer’s report was done. It was seen that in 10/44 Majlishpur Assembly segment, 68 EDC (Election Duty Certificates) votes were casted in Birendra Nagar High School by officials on election duty like FST, SST, VST and Reserved Sector Officers and Reserved Polling Officers. The 68 EDC votes casted were in addition to 498 normal votes. The breakup thus arisen is as follows : Total assigned votes in said Poling Station 10/44 was 545. Total votes against assigned voters was 498 and casting percentage was 91.37 %. Voters of other Assembly Segments casted in said 10/44 Polling Station was 12.48 %. The high polling percentage reported is because of the proximity of these polling station to the ARO headquarter. Most of the officers on election duty prefer to cast their vote there only. In addition, the percentage of votes casted in 5/44- Lembuchara SB School (5- Khayerpur Assembly Segment) was 81.63% while the newspaper item published 99.15% based on hearsay. The issues raised in the complaint were scrutinized during the scrutiny as well in presence of representatives of all political parties on 20.04.2024. It appears that such complaints are based on insufficient evidence and not on facts. The Lok Sabha election in 1- Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency and bye- election in 7- Ramnagar Assembly Constituency on 19.04.2024 were held in a free and fair manner.