Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday, 26 November, moved the Supreme Court alleging violation of orders for free and fair municipal polls in Tripura and has sought a probe by a court-monitored panel, news agency PTI reported.
Further, alleging that people were not allowed to vote, the TMC has requested the apex court to postpone the counting of votes.
The Tripura civic elections had begun at 7 am on Thursday, amid allegations by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M), and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claiming that workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were going around on motorcycles and intimidating their candidates.
Hours before voting had begun, CPI(M) leader Jitendra Chaudhary on Wednesday had rushed to the Supreme Court to seek its intervention in ensuring free and fair civic body elections.
A day before that, on Tuesday, though the Supreme Court had rejected the TMC’s request to postpone the civic body polls due to incidents of violence, it had told the police to submit within two days an action-taken report on the acts of violence in the BJP-ruled state.
The top court bench had asked the Tripura government then, "When is the counting, and what steps are you taking to ensure that nothing happens between today and the counting day?"
Voting took place in 644 booths in 13 civic bodies in Tripura.
The TMC's appeal comes despite the Supreme Court having directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday, 25 November, to provide two additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to ensure free and fair local body elections in Tripura.
The CAPF personnel are deployed to secure ballot boxes till counting of votes scheduled for 28 November is completed.
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