People's Democracy

Left Front Announces Candidates for ADC Polls

Rahul Sinha

THE sixth general elections to the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC, or ADC in short) are going to take place on May 3, with the election commissioner for the ADC, Yashpal Singh, declaring the schedule of the whole election process on March 31.

Notably, the Tripura Left Front Committee announced its list of candidates for all the 28 ADC seats within two hours after the declaration of the schedule.

According to the schedule of polls announced, formal notification for the polls has been issued on April 5. Nomination forms from the candidates were to be accepted from April 5 to 12. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on April 13 and withdrawal of nominations can take place till April 16. Polling will take place from 7 am to 4 pm on May 3, in 1006 polling stations through secret ballot, when around 6,36,000 voters will exercise their franchise. Repoll, if necessary, will take place on May 5 and the results will come out on May 7.

The Tripura Left Front Committee held a press conference at the CPI(M) state committee office        just within two hours after this declaration, to announce its list of candidates for the ensuing  ADC polls. In the last ADC elections the Left Front and its ally, the NSPT, had won all the 28 seats. This time the Left Front will be contesting in all the 28 seats. The CPI(M) has put up candidates in 25 seats, while the CPI, RSP and AIFB will be contesting one seat each. The candidates include three women and eight new faces.

Announcing the list of candidates in the press conference, Left Front convener Khagen Das appealed on behalf of the front, that the electorate must ensure the LF victory in all the 28 seats with greater margins, so that the atmosphere of peace and harmony gets further strengthened and the development process can go on. Explaining in detail the developmental activities of the Left Front government and ADC administration, he said agencies of the central government have appreciated time and again Tripura�s achievements in development despite fund constraints and other limitations. The forces inimical to the process of development and peace are trying to create a reign of anarchy in the state. In these elections too, anti-development forces and the extremists are likely to join hands. Hence the Left Front has appealed to all sections of people to be alert, foil conspiracies, and ensure victory to the LF candidates.

As was informed by CPI(M) state committee secretary Bijan Dhar at the press conference, the Left Front convened on April 4 a central rally at Agartala for the ADC polls. An estimated one lakh people participated in this rally, which the chief minister Manik Sarkar, tribal welfare minister Aghor Debbarma and other leaders of the Left Front addressed.

Meanwhile, the opposition is not being able to put up a united fight against the Left Front this time. The Congress and its traditional ally, the INPT, could not reach any agreement regarding seat sharing. Both the parties declared their separate lists of candidates for all the 28 seats on April 1. The INPT leaders alleged that the seat sharing arrangement failed because of the attitude of the Congress, blaming that the Congress was always apathetic to the demand of the sixth schedule.