New Delhi , November 25,2021: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to deploy two additional companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in Tripura as expeditiously as possible to secure the polling booth so that municipal elections can take place without any disruption.
A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath directed the Director-General of Police (DGP), Home Secretary, and State Election Commission (SEC) to ensure that all polling booths are properly manned by security forces to ensure free and fair elections.
The apex court also directed that in absence of CCTV, print and electronic media should have unhindered access to report the election process and asked state poll panel and authorities to ensure compliance with the court’s order. This direction of Bench came after the counsel appearing for Trinamool Congress said that all polling booths did not have CCTV cameras.
Tripura is holding civic body polls today.
The Bench was hearing a contempt petition filed by All India Trinamool Congress and its Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev’s contempt plea alleging non-compliance of the apex court order by Tripura authorities passed on November 11 to ensure a free and safe atmosphere for political campaigning for the local body elections scheduled on November 25.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) one of the opposition parties in the fray for the Tripura municipal elections has approached the top court alleging an attack on their party workers by the ruling BJP.
During the hearing, the apex court was informed that there are 770 polling booths in the State.
Senior advocates Gopal Shankaranarayanan and PV Surendranath, appearing for TMC and
CPI(M) respectively, contended that widespread acts of violence are happening today, the day of polling.
Tripura civic polls: SC asks Centre to deploy more paramilitary forces
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