Tripura police probe alleged manhandling of presiding officer during poll

The Tripura police have registered a case and served a notice to the prime accused in the alleged manhandling of a presiding officer during the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Bagbassa Assembly constituency on Friday, poll officials said.
Police have also constituted an investigation team headed by Dharmanagar sub-divisional police officer to conduct a probe into the matter at the earliest.
The accused Kajal Das, accompanied by a few persons, manhandled the presiding officer at booth no. 22 while he asked the voters to stand in the queue properly and collect tokens before casting their votes, said poll officials familiar with the matter.
Das and others in the group were not enrolled voters of that polling booth and were not supposed to enter it as per the Election Commission guidelines, they added.
The assistant returning officer lodged a complaint at Kadamtala police station on Sunday against Das and a few others. Based on the complaint, police served a notice to him seeking his reply.
A video posted on the CPI(M)’s Facebook page showed the presiding officer being manhandled by some persons in front of the voters during polling. Later, the security personnel rushed to the spot and rescued him.
The CPI(M) claimed Das and others are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Reacting to it, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “We didn’t know about the matter. If any such thing happened, the police and the Election Commission will look into the matter”.
Meanwhile, North Tripura district election officer served a show cause notice to BJP legislator Jadab Lal Das for allegedly entering polling booth no. 22 under Bagbassa Assembly constituency violating the guidelines of the Election Commission and misbehaving with a booth level officer (BLO).
In another case, Sushankar Debnath, an agriculture assistant, was suspended for violating model code of conduct by sending many political messages in a government WhatsApp group. Debnath was posted at the office of principal, Upgraded Training Centre (UGTC) at Lembucherra in West District.
Polling at two Parliamentary constituencies in Tripura were held on April 19 and April 26 that recorded 81.52%t and 80.36% voting, respectively.