Panchayat Polls: Violence in Khowai, Teliamura, few BJP, Cong leaders injured

Just four days before the three-tier Panchayat elections in Tripura, when both ruling and opposition parties strengthened their poll campaign, rival parties unleashed targeted violence on each other, as result at least four leaders and supporters of political parties sustained injuries.

Sources said that when a group of BJP supporters and leaders were busy with their internal meeting at the house one Zilla Parishad candidate at Samatahal Padmabil area under Ramchandraghat assembly constituency of Khowai district on Saturday night, a group of miscreants owing their allegiance with opposition CPI (M), Congress and powered with supporters of ruling alliance Tipra-Motha attacked at the house of Dilip Sukla Baidhya.

During indiscriminate attacks, few BJP supporters and leaders including one party candidate Subrata Deb sustained injuries and they were shifted to Khowai district hospital.

Later, party leaders had also lodged an FIR against miscreants responsible for the attack and police on Sunday morning had also arrested two CPI(M) supporters involved with the incident.

In another incident, when two Zilla Parishad candidates of Congress busy with their poll campaign near at Maharanipur HS School under Teliamura police station, a group of miscreants owing alliance with Yuva Morcha of BJP attacked them and severally thrashed both Congress candidates.

Immediately, some local people rushed to the spot and rescued them. Later, some senior Congress leaders led by Sambda Kumar Jamatia submitted a deputation before the OC of Teliamura police station demanding immediate arrest of all accused persons involved with attacks on their candidates Asit Biswas and Biplab Sarkar.

Speaking with the media Jamatia alleged that the incidents of violence and oppression have increased after the announcement of Panchayat elections in the state.

He claimed that hundreds of their party workers were brutally beaten and their properties vandalised at the hands of the ruling regime and this exposed the falling norms of democracy in the BJP-ruled state.