ECI defers Tripura East (ST) polls to April 23

GUWAHATI: Election Commission of India (ECI) has deferred the poll date for

Tripura

East (ST) parliamentary constituency to April 23, after receiving reports from the Tripura chief electoral officer (CEO) and Special Police Observer (SPO) that the prevailing law and order situation in the state was not conducive to holding the election on the scheduled date on April 18.


In a notification, the ECI said that the returning officer (RO) for the Tripura East (ST) constituency has also expressed serious apprehension that miscreants may thwart the polling process. It said that based on the ground intelligence, the returning officer has also requested additional

central armed police forces

.

ECI said that after considering the reports from state CEO, SPO, RO and also taking into accounts inputs from various sources, it has decided to defer the polls to April 23. It said that by this time, ECI said, it expected that law and order situation in the constituency to improve and become conducive to holding free and fair election with additional measures taken during this period.

“We hope that in next four five days we will be able to improve the law and order situation by taking up enough security measures and build confidence among the voters,” Tripura CEO Sriram Taranikanti told TOI.

In the first phase polls for the West Tripura parliamentary constituency on April 11, there were reports of large scale violence. At least 23 persons were injured in the poll related violence in the state.

Oppositions were demanding fool-proof security, including security escorts for polling agents.