Jiten slams state government and state election commission for violence and irregularity in VC polls

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, October 6, 2026

The leader of the opposition and CPI (M) state secretary Jiten Chowdhury has lashed out at the state government and state election commission for what he alleged was violence-marred irregularities in the just-concluded elections to the Village Committees under the ADC. He was speaking to media persons in the CPI (M) state headquarter with former minister Manik Dey and former ADC CEM Radha Charan Debbarma on his two sides.

“We knew beforehand that the elections would not be free and fair but what really happened at the grassroot level was unprecedented; in more than one third of the seats the opposition parties could not even file nominations; there was violence on opposition party workers and supporters on the polling day and the counting of ballots yesterday was shameful as our counting agents were drive out through violence from many counting centres” said Jiten.

He referred to the violent incidents yesterday in Maharani area under Kamalpur subdivision and Champahaor area under Khowai subdivision where two persons died separately after police lathi-charge. Jiten said that with proper deployment of central paramilitary force many incidents of violence could have been averted but this did not happen despite our repeated demands. “In the Pecharthal block under Unakoti district CPI (M) candidates won three Village Commttees but declaration of results was withheld because of pressure on counting authority by ruling party MLAs and ministers ; is this democracy” Jiten asked. He also referred to the tension in Kathalia block area under Sonamura subdivision and the pelting of stones on police vehicle as well as on the vehicle of the IG (law and order) Monchak Ippar.

Raising question over the democratic ambience in the state Jiten said that all along the campaign for the Village Committee polls the CPI (M) candidates had evoked encouraging response from voters compared with the ADC polls held in April this year but the support of the people could not be converted into votes for the CPI (M) candidates because of the strong-arm tactics adopted by the ruling coalition and attacks on opposition candidates. The CPI (M) has also secured more than double the vote secured in the ADC polls but the reduction of democracy to a farce in the state resulted in the outcome that is now on view in the VC polls. “It is not a question of victory or defeat in polls ; the basic question is about the state of democracy and the fundamental right of the people” said Jiten.

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