In view of the allegations of violence during the polling day(which is today) for local body elections in Tripura, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Home Secretary of Tripura Government, the State Election Commission and the Director General of Police to ensure that every polling booth is manned by sufficient strength of Central Armed Police Force(CAPF) personnel.
The Court also directed that the polling officers should take the help of the CAPF personnel in the event of any emergency.
The Court also directed that print and electronic media should have unhindered access to report the election.
A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath further directed the DGP and Home Secretary of Tripura to immediately assess the security situation and make a requisition to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for additional battalion of CAPF.
The Court also directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to provide an additional two companies of CAPF at its discretion as expeditiously as as possible having due regard that polling has already commenced. The Court also took on record the undertaking made by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta that the MHA will respond immediately to any requisition for additional battalion for central paramilitary forces made by the State Government.
Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan, appearing for Trinamool Congress, and Senior Advocate PV Surendranath, appearing for the CPI(M), submitted submitted that widespread acts of violence are happening today, the day of polling.
Shankaranarayanan submitted that there are multiple videos of outsiders barging into polling booths and offered to produce the video evidence before the bench. He added that a candidate of TMC was being prevented from casting vote.
Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the State of Tripura, refuted the allegations and submitted that all steps are taken to ensure peaceful vote.
The State Government filed a report before the Court stating that a requisition for additional CAPF battalion was made to the MHA, following the assessment of security situation by the DGP, Home Secretary and the State Election Commission.
The State further submitted that in addition to the 78 sections which were noted in the previous order of the court, 15 additional sections have been deployed, and pursuant to the requisition made by the DGP and Home Secretary of the state of Tripura, two companies of the border security force have been deployed
Moreover 258 personnel belonging to the Tripura State rifles have been deployed for law and order duties.
