Agartala, Jan 25 (IANS) The Election Commission (EC) has transferred more than 20 officials and barred them from election related duties in northeastern India’s Tripura state where assembly polls will be held Feb 23, officials said Friday.
“We have to transfer these officials following the directives and guidelines of the Election Commission,” said G.S.G. Ayyangar, chief electoral officer of Tripura.
He said the poll panel had held meetings with the directors general of police and chief electoral officers of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland in New Delhi earlier this week.
Assembly elections will be held in Meghalaya March 3 followed by Nagaland March 5. The counting of votes will be held for Tripura and Meghalaya March 7 and for Nagaland March 8.
“In the New Delhi meetings, the EC has finalised deployment of central paramilitary forces, appointment of assembly segment-wise observers besides other issues relating to the model code of conduct,” Ayyangar added.
He said EC observers have rushed to their respective districts while senior officials of the poll panel would frequently visit all three northeastern states to oversee poll preparations and implementation of the model code of conduct and guidelines.
According to C. Balasubramanian, additional director general of Tripura police, around 65,000 security personnel including 20,000 paramilitary personnel would be deployed in the state to maintain law and order during the campaign.
Meanwhile, both ruling and opposition parties are busy finalising alliances with their poll partners.
“All the top leaders of state Congress and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) are presently camping in New Delhi, holding a series of meetings with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leaders to finalise the seat sharing as well as the party nominees for the upcoming polls,” Tapas Dey, spokesman of the state Congress unit, told IANS over telephone from New Delhi.