The Supreme Court Tuesday issued additional guidelines to Tripura’s top police officers to ensure that the conduct of elections remains peaceful.
The Court also rejected the TMC plea to postpone civic polls in the state.
“The DGP and IGP shall take all steps to ensure the election is conducted without disruptions, especially on the day of polling and counting,” said the court.
The ruling came on a contempt plea by TMC alleging that its cadre was being targeted in the state and false cases foisted on them in the run-up to the elections despite earlier orders of the court.
The ongoing municipal poll process in Tripura will witness voting on November 25 and counting of votes on November 28.
The bench said in its order that “it is the duty of DGP, IGP & Home Secretary to assuage any misgiving about the fairness of the law enforcement machinery in supporting the electoral process”.
“The law enforcement agencies must discharge duty in an even-handed…manner to obviate the grievance that the candidates and supporters of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) are unfairly targeted by contesting political groups,” it said.
The court asked the Tripura DGP and IG to hold a joint meeting with the State Election Commissioner by Wednesday morning for assessing the availability of central paramilitary forces in sufficient strength to be deployed for peaceful conduct of the polls.
Taking note of Trinamool’s contention that the police were not lodging FIRs against those attacking its cadre, the court asked the state “to submit tabulated data on complaints made, steps taken and if FIR has been registered…”.
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