The BJP’s campaign of intimidation and violence against opposition parties has intensified across Tripura ahead of the November 28 elections to 21 urban local bodies. CPI(M) candidates, leaders and supporters have faced repeated attacks, threats and obstruction while attempting to exercise their democratic right to file nominations. In several areas, BJP-backed miscreants have allegedly laid siege to offices of returning officers, blocked roads and threatened opposition candidates with physical violence to prevent them from contesting the elections.

The scale of intimidation has been particularly alarming in Mohanpur, Jirania, Rani Bazar, Kamalpur and Santirbazar. In a particularly disturbing incident at Lalkhara in Khowai, an 83-year-old woman was assaulted when BJP-backed miscreants attacked the house of a CPI(M) leader. The attacks have continued despite repeated appeals to the State Election Commission and the police administration to ensure a free and fair electoral process.

On Monday, November 2, a violent attack took place at Fatikchhara in Mohanpur subdivision when CPI(M) candidates and party workers were proceeding to file nomination papers. Around 15 people were injured in the attack, allegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants. An auto-rickshaw was vandalised, while several mobile phones were reportedly snatched. According to the CPI(M), a bulldozer was used to block the road, preventing candidates and their supporters from proceeding towards the returning officer's office. Armed groups were also stationed along surrounding roads.

CPI(M) leaders said that repeated attempts to contact the local police authorities during the attack proved unsuccessful. The party also pointed out that a large number of BJP-backed miscreants had assembled inside and outside the returning officer's office in Mohanpur, intimidating opposition candidates and obstructing the nomination process.

The situation was equally alarming in Jirania and Rani Bazar. Roads leading to the sub-divisional magistrate's office were allegedly blocked, while candidates and their proposers were threatened with physical attacks and even murder. At a meeting convened by the returning officer, representatives of the opposition parties were reportedly prevented from participating. On November 3, CPI(M) Jirania local committee secretary Chandan Das was brutally assaulted at his residence around 5.30 am. The attackers allegedly threatened him with further consequences if he ventured outside before November 6, the last date for filing nominations.

In Khowai, BJP-backed miscreants attacked the houses of two CPI(M) leaders on Monday night. The residence of Ratan Das, a member of the Subhash Park Area Committee and proposer of a Left Front candidate, was targeted around 8.30 pm. His wife and daughter were present when the attackers arrived and issued threats. Around 9 pm, another group attacked the residence of Kartik Ghosh, also a CPI(M) area committee member. The attackers broke through the boundary fence and gate. When his elder brother, Mahadev Ghosh, a schoolteacher, came outside, he was beaten with sticks. Their 83-year-old mother, Pranati Ghosh, was also assaulted and suffered serious injuries to her hand.

In Teliamura, the residence of CPI(M) candidate Dolly Das Saha in Ward No. 3 was targeted, with miscreants allegedly throwing liquor bottles at the house. The Congress candidate in Ward No. 10, Bhaktilata Sarkar, was also threatened and asked to withdraw her nomination. In another incident, the house of Swapan Dey, proposer of CPI(M) candidate Dipatanu Modak in Ward No. 9, was attacked and vandalised. The family was reportedly threatened with dire consequences. In Santirbazar, the houses of CPI(M) leaders and workers, including area committee secretary Pabitra Sur and party worker Ratan Saha, were attacked. Ratan Saha and his wife were allegedly assaulted.

The Tripura Left Front Committee has strongly protested against these attacks and demanded immediate intervention by the State Election Commission. In a letter to the State Election Commissioner on November 3, Left Front convener Manik Dey demanded that nomination papers for five urban local bodies — Kamalpur, Jirania, Rani Bazar, Mohanpur and Santirbazar — be accepted at the respective district magistrates’ offices through assistant returning officers. The demand has been made in view of the systematic obstruction and the failure to ensure a safe environment at the designated offices of returning officers.

The letter detailed the attacks in Mohanpur and Kamalpur, where four CPI(M) candidates had reportedly been seriously injured in an attack on October 31. It also pointed to the presence of around 200 BJP-backed miscreants near the returning officer's office in Mohanpur and approximately 250 in and around the Santirbazar office. Opposition supporters were allegedly being searched and threatened to prevent them from submitting nomination papers. The Left Front stressed that ensuring equal opportunities for all contestants to file nominations was a constitutional and legal responsibility of the Election Commission.

Earlier, on October 31, Manik Dey had written to the Commission demanding adequate security for opposition candidates, deployment of central forces along routes leading to nomination centres and their continued presence in all urban local bodies until the conclusion of the elections.

Meanwhile, the Left Front has continued its nomination campaign despite the intimidation. On November 3, another 50 candidates from different political parties filed nominations in nine urban local bodies. Of these, 40 belonged to the Congress, six to the CPI(M), two to the BJP and two to other parties. The cumulative number of nominations filed across the 21 urban local bodies has reached 291, including 224 CPI(M), 52 Congress, two BJP and 13 candidates from other parties. The Left Front has so far filed nominations in 237 seats.

In Dharmanagar, CPI(M) candidates filed nominations in three more wards on Tuesday, taking the party's tally to 22 of the 25 seats. In Khowai, the Left Front completed the nomination process in all 15 wards by filing papers for the remaining two candidates.

Earlier, on October 31, the Left Front had filed nominations for 33 candidates in Bilonia, Panisagar and Dharmanagar. In Agartala Municipal Corporation, 30 candidates belonging to five Left parties — CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI(ML) Liberation — filed nominations on November 2. The CPI(M) contested 25 of these seats, while the CPI fielded two candidates and the other three parties one each.

Addressing a large rally accompanying the nomination procession in Agartala, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Tripura State Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury called upon democratic, secular and peace-loving people to unite in the struggle to restore democracy. He said the present situation was different from that of the 2021 civic elections, when widespread intimidation and electoral violence had enabled the BJP to win several seats uncontested.

Chaudhury said that the BJP's nine years in power had been marked by plunder, lawlessness and attacks on democratic rights. Even after the announcement of the elections, opposition candidates were being attacked and prevented from filing nominations. He called for unity among all democratic forces to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes and to build a government accountable to the people.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Manik Dey also condemned the violence and called upon people to politically isolate those attacking democratic rights.

With November 6 being the last date for filing nominations, the Left Front has warned that the continuing attacks pose a serious threat to the credibility of the entire electoral process. It has urged the State Election Commission to intervene immediately, ensure the safety of candidates and guarantee that every political party gets an equal opportunity to contest the elections.