The violence spoiled a peaceful by-election voting in Tripura as an off-duty police constable was attacked and hospitalized by some miscreants at Abhoy Nagar on Thursday while he was on his way to cast his votes with his family.
The injured constable is reported to be Samir Saha, a 54-year-old policeman, and resident of the Kunjaban area. He was attacked in broad daylight in the Abhoy Nagar area while on his way to a polling booth to cast his vote. He was admitted to the GB Hospital and currently undergoing treatment.
As per the source, the injured policeman is security of former MLA Lalit Mohan Tripura. The policeman alleged that the miscreant were supporters of the BJP.
The police personnel’s son, Samar Saha, said that his father was stopped by a group of miscreants while on his way to cast his vote at the nearby polling booth. However, Samir objected to them and proceeded towards the booth, challenging the assailants. Following this, the miscreants stabbed him in his stomach and fled the spot.
Earlier, Mrinal Kanti Debnath, the Trinamool Congress’ candidate for the Jubarajnagar constituency, had alleged that some goons have been threatening electors since Wednesday night and claimed that voters were not allowed to cast their franchise freely on Thursday.
Similar allegations were made by the TMC’s Agartala candidate Panna Deb. She alleged that the BJP’s motorcycle-borne goons or ‘Bike Baahini’ were stopping voters from going to the polling booths midway and intimidating them.
The by-polls to four assembly seats in Tripura – Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma, and Jubarajnagar — began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security arrangements. A total of 1,89,032 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election, in which 25 candidates are in the fray.
As per the officials, around 14.66 percent of 1.89 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 9 am in by-polls to four assembly constituencies and became the highest number of voters in the undergoing by-elections in the seven constituencies in the country.
