Polling to Tripura East LS seat deferred

Agartala, April 16 (IANS) Polling to Tripura East parliamentary constituency, slated for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 18, has been deferred, a top official said late Tuesday night.

Polling will now take place in the tribal reserved seat on April 23, in the third phase of the polls, the official said.

Elections to the northeastern state's other Lok Sabha seat - Tripura West - was held in the first phase on April 11.

"To create conducive situation and (arrange) deployment of adequate additional security forces, the polling was deferred by the Election Commission. We would make all efforts to improve the situation in the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti told IANS.

"We would undertake all possible confidence building measures before April 23. We would try to plug the loopholes, if any, in the poll preparedness in the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat," the official said.

The CEO also said that the Election Commission has also transferred Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Rajiv Singh, a senior IPS officer.

"Another senior IPS officer V.S.Yadav has been appointed as Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) in place of Singh," Election Commission Secretary Arvind Anand in a letter to the CEO communicated the EC decision about the transfer.

EC Under Secretary Santosh Kumar Dubey in a letter to the CEO, which is available with IANS, said the Commission has directed to re-publish a notification about the deferment of the election.

Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress welcomed the EC decision and separately claimed their allegations about the "malpractices and rigging in the elections to the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat on April 11, were vindicated".

The ruling BJP, however, is yet to react.