Tripura polls: Yechury seeks action against Amit Shah for 'secret meeting' with poll officials

Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of meddling in the Tripura assembly elections.

In a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the communist leader and former Rajya Sabha MP said that Amit Shah is “trying to directly influence the conduct of elections for the Tripura assembly”.

Referring to a "secret meeting" between Shah and a group of top police officials on February 11, Yechury alleged that Shah violated electoral norms just three days before the poll date.

“We urge you to initiate urgent action to undo the impact which is clearly a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. We also expect that the Election Commission of India will take report from the special observers and fix responsibility on the BJP and other important election officials who met the union home minister,” Yechury said in his letter. 

Urging the ECI to take immediate action to undo the impact, Yechury requested the ECI to take a report from the special observers and fix responsibility on officials who met Shah.

The Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of CPI(M), Jitendra Choudhury, has also written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, calling for a high-level investigation into the allegations of the secret meeting and the removal of officials from election duty.

Campaigning for the assembly polls in Tripura concluded Tuesday. Polling for all the 60 seats will be held on Thursday.

BJP that has been in the power in the state since 2018, is contesting 55 assembly seats while its ally IPFT has fielded candidates in six constituencies.

The CPI(M) is contesting 47 seats and the Congress is fighting in 13 constituencies. The TMC has fielded candidates in 28 constituencies and there are 58 independent aspirants in the fray.

The BJP is trying hard to retain Tripura. On the other hand, Congress and the Left are scrambling to regain relevance in north-eastern state, forging an alliance to combat the BJP.