BJP's ally IPFT demands special intensive revision for Tripura

The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura, has demanded a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for Tripura on the lines of Bihar.

The development came days after a delegation of Tipra Motha, another ally of the BJP in Tripura, met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and demanded SIR in the state.

A four-member team, headed by IPFT president Prem Kumar Reang, met the CEC on August 1 in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum before the poll panel backing the demand for SIR in our state," the party's general secretary, Swapan Debbarma, said.

In the memorandum, the party has clearly stated that the ECI will have to ensure that no genuine citizen of the state shall be disenfranchised from the electoral rolls, he said.

Debbarma said the party will organize a massive rally at Swami Vivekananda Ground in Agartala on August 23 to mark 'Sixth Schedule Day'.

The party used to hold a rally in Delhi's Jantar Mantar on the occasion of Sixth Schedule Day, but this time, we will organise the programme at Vivekananda Ground here because the crucial elections of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are due next year," he said.

A memorandum will be submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah through Governor N Indrasena Reddy demanding the formation of Tipraland, Debbarma said.

The IPFT, capitalizing on its core demand of a separate state of Tipraland comprising the TTAADC areas, had contested the 2018 assembly election and won 14 ST-reserved seats. The BJP-led coalition unseated the Left Front from power in the state in that election.