Chief Electoral Officer Tripura Puneet Agarwal on Tuesday said that as many as 13 officials were placed under suspension while seizure of materials and cash worth a total value of Rs 26 crore were seized while the Model Code of Conduct was in force.

 Agarwal also informed that his office had received 62 complaints regarding various malpractices prohibited under the Model Code of Conduct.

“59 out of the 62 complaints are already disposed of. In this course of action, 13 government officials have been placed under suspension. Six of them were from the education department, five officials were associated with security forces, one official was with the health department; and one, Gramin Rojgar Sevak, was suspended on a temporary basis after allegations of MCC violation and negligence of duty were proven,” Agarwal told media persons.

 Stating that unaccounted cash and contraband items having total value of Rs 26 crore were seized after the MCC came into force, Agarwal said, “Around 23 crore of the seized materials are drugs. Illicit liquor worth Rs 2.5 crore was seized after the poll curbs were enforced. The value of unaccounted cash stands near Rs 60 lakh. Most seizures have been carried out by the Police and Income Tax department.”

 Given the nearing polls, the CEO informed that complaint redressal officers have been appointed for each of the sixty assembly segments. “Their names and contacts have been shared widely through different media outlets to make sure that people can contact them in need. These officers are empowered to initiate an investigation once a complaint is received. This is an additional mechanism apart from the existing processes available for complaining, such as the cVigil application, grievance service portal, and physical submission of a written complaint,” Agarwal added.

On being asked about less violence in the present elections, the CEO said, “Even though the polls were declared on March 16, preparations for the elections started three months back. The state forces and sector officers were appointed who supervise the vulnerability mapping. In those areas, intensive area dominance drives were carried out. A total of 100 companies of the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) have been deployed all across the state, along with the state police force, as a confidence-building exercise.”

 To avert violence, the CEO said, adequate pre-emptive steps have been undertaken. “Whenever we received inputs of imminent problems, the deployment of forces was increased and all efforts were made to keep a safe distance between workers of two political parties whenever events coincided in one area,” he added.

 On the voters living ahead of the fencing, the CEO said, “There are around 1,500 voters living ahead of the fencing. They will be given free access to the polling stations at the time of polling.”

 There are two parliamentary seats in Tripura. The West Tripura parliamentary constituency will go to the polls on April 19 and polling for East Tripura is slated on April 26.