Two assembly seats in Tripura to witness five corner contest

From A Correspondent

Agartala, November 6 : Both the Tripura assembly seats, Barjala (SC) and Khowai, going for by-election on November 19 are set to witness five corner contests as none of the ten candidates who filed nomitions has withdrawn from the fray as the last date for withdrawal of nomitions expired on November 5.

The five candidates med for the Barjala (SC) constituency are Jhumu Sarkar of CPI(M), Prakash Das of Trimool Congress, Sistha Mohon Das of the BJP, Rajendra Kumar Das of the Congress and Bimal Das of Amra Bangali.

The five candidates med for the Khowai constituency are Biswajit Datta of CPI(M), Manoj Das of Trimool Congress, Tapan Kumar Pal of the BJP, Prab Biswas of the Congress and Gautam Deb of Amra Bangali.

The campaigning is gaining momentum as the stage is set for the by-election. All the parties already had several meetings but still now the stress is more on door to door campaigning as the candidates feel a persol appeal to cast vote in favour of them is more effective to impress the voters. The mornings that used to remain calm and quiet in normal time in the roads of Khowai and Barjala are now becoming busy as the candidates are trying to gather maximum number of party workers behind them while visiting the voters.

‘Good gathering creates an impact in the psychology of the voters’, said a Trimool Congress worker while going door to door along with their candidate at Hatipara area under Barjala constituency. As the campaigning gained momentum, allegations of violation of model code of conduct set by Election Commission also started coming in from contesting parties.

Pulak Kumar Debth, election agent of the BJP candidate for Barjala constituency has accused the OBC Development Corporation of code violation by holding a press conference that highlighted the benefits of the corporation is extending to the people belonging to OBC category. The press conference is a clear attempt to influence the voters belonging to OBC category in favour of the ruling CPI(M).

Braja Gopal Bhowmik, Chairman and Amit Kumar Debbarma, General Secretary of the corporation in the press conference described how much lone the corporation can sanction in which scheme. They also announced special facilities for the female entrepreneurs.

‘It is a clear case of violation of model code of conduct’, Debth said in his written complain before the Election Commission.

Earlier the CPI(M) also filed a complaint against BJP for distributing cash among the voters in Khowai. The allegation is being investigated by the commission. It is learnt that the BJP has denied the allegation.