AGARTALA, April 21 (TIWN): Congress has demanded re-arrest of the accused electoral officers who manipulated & rigged poll on 11th April, 2019. 6 electoral officers were detained for interrogation on yesterday but immediately they were released on bail which has erupted massive resentments. At the same time, Congress also complained against appointment of IGP Puneet Rastogi in charge of Law & Order as he is close to BJP. In a written complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Congress Vice President Tapas Dey said, “This is to state that as per our reports, errant Presiding Officers, Micro-Observers, Polling Officers and Polling Agents, who were arrested in different police stations of Tripura, were released on bail, which is in direct contravention of the instructions given by the Election Commission of India (ECI). We wish to state that all these persons, who are directly responsible for violation of Election Commission guidelines during polling hours on April 11 when West Tripura Parliamentary Constituency underwent polling, should have been arrested under non-bailable sections at the first place”.

“May we draw your attention that BJP people have celebrated after they were freed on bail at Santirbazar under santir bazar police station. So, we, from the Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, demand your kind authority to order their re-arrest and punish the erring police officials who violated Order of the Election Commission at the earliest and help in building strong confidence among voters”, said the Congress leader.

“Many of these people deliberately suppressed incidents of booth capturing in the Presiding Officer’s Diary, others deliberately shied away from reporting these illegal activities to the Returning Officer. These are criminal violation of rules and regulations and instance of sheer negligence of their official duties. We, therefore, seek your kind favour and necessary action in order to order re-arrest of all such individuals so that no further violation of Election Commission rules and regulations can be perpetrated when East Tripura (ST reserved) Lok Sabha Constituency goes to polls on April 23”.

Congress further the letter told the CEO, “We, in the interest of transparency of ECI, also demand a copy of appointment of IGP Shri Puneet Rastogi in the charge of Law and Order in poll bound Tripura in the instead of Shri V.S. Yadav, who was appointed by the ECI after Additional Director General Shri Rajiv Singh was transferred from his post for law and order failure. We reiterate our stand that the history of proximity of Shri Puneet Rastogi with BJP leaders and his role till now has been highly suspicious and we suspect his duties will not be out of the purview of doubt. Hence, we demand that all requisite authorities are instructed to deal with all complaints filed in connection with the Lok Sabha election process be dealt with utmost strictness and sincerity. We believe you will take all necessary actions in this regard and do the needful".