Strike called in Tripura to demand re-poll

Agartala: A political party in Tripura has called a 12-hour strike on May 12 to protest alleged irregularities during the polls for the state`s two Lok Sabha seats.

The Tripura Pragatisheel Gramin Congress (TPGC) on Saturday announced a dawn-to-dusk strike, demanding re-poll in the Lok Sabha seats for which balloting was held on April 7 and April 12. "All the leaders of opposition parties, including Congress and BJP, in a recent meeting have decided to observe the strike May 12 to protest the misdeeds in the elections to the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura," TPGC president Subal Bhowmik told reporters here. Opposition parties - the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura and the Aam Aadmi Party - have indicated that they would support the strike. But they are yet to make their position clear. The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) opposed the strike and urged the people to foil the "conspiracy of the opposition parties". "Of Tripura`s 23 lakh voters, over 20 lakh electorate have cast their votes April 7 and 12. Of the seven phases of elections held across the country, Tripura`s polling percentage is highest so far," the CPI-M said in a statement. It said the demand of the opposition parties was undemocratic, illogical and provocative. A record 85 percent of the total 2.38 million electorate cast their vote in Tripura for the two parliamentary constituencies -- West Tripura and East Tripura. According to state chief electoral officer Ashutosh Jindal, over 86 percent of the 1.2 million electorate voted in the West Tripura constituency while 84 percent of the 1.13 million electorate voted in East Tripura.