2,000 Tripura security personnel, posted in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, to cast votes as ‘service voters’

way2barak, April 2 : The Election Commission for the first time has allowed around 2,000 personnel and officers of Tripura State Rifles (TSR), who have been deployed in Delhi and Chhattisgarh, to exercise their franchise as ‘service voters’ in the state’s two Lok Sabha seats and a by-election in an assembly constituency, election officials said on Tuesday.

Two TSR battalions comprising around 2,000 TSR personnel, including officers, have been posted in the national capital under the Delhi police authority since 2019 and in South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) in Chhattisgarh since 2022.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Tripura, S. Bandopadhyay in a letter to state’s opposition leader Jitendra Choudhury said that the matter was taken up promptly with the Election Commission of India seeking advice about the enrolment of the TSR personnel as ‘service voters’.

“The ECI accordingly confirmed their eligibility for enrolment as service electors and advised us to take initiative for their enrolment. Thereafter, all such TSR personnel are being facilitated to be enrolled as service voters. A report indicating action taken in this regard has been received from the State Police Nodal Officer,” the Additional CEO said in his letter.

TSR personnel, posted outside the state, could not cast their votes in last year’s assembly elections as they were not treated as service voters then.

Choudhury, also the CPI-M Tripura state Secretary, earlier in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (Rajiv Kumr) said that 2,000 jawans of two battalions of TSR deputed in Delhi and Chattisgarh while performing security duty in various government establishments in those states belongs to Tripura and their names have been enrolled in the updated electoral rolls.

“While we boast of the democratic system of our country as an ‘inclusive democracy’ it is indecent to leave such a big number of electors deprived of right to franchise in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, only because they are performing noble duty for the interest of the country,” he said and demanded providing scope of postal ballot or arranging designated centre of polling in their respective place of postings both in Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

Currently, Tripura has 14 TSR battalions. Of the 14 battalions, one battalion posted in Delhi, one battalion at SECL in Chhattisgarh and one battalion have been providing security to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s drilling sites in Tripura.

Tripura’s two Lok Sabha seats – Tripura West and Tripura East – would go to polls on April 19 and April 26 respectively while by-election in Ramnagar assembly segment would be held on April 19.