GUWAHATI: The ruling CPI-M in poll-bound Tripura has petitioned the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), demanding a probe and action over media reports that National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval had attended an “election meeting” of BJP-RSS at the residence of Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Sunday.
“…Central BJP leaders including Mr Ram Madhav and senior RSS leader Mr Krishna Gopal met in a meeting at the residence of Union home minister Rajnath Singh and, according to media reports, NSA Mr Ajit Doval was also present there…The reports said the meeting was convened purely on political purpose, i.e. to evolve an electoral strategy of the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland,” CPI-M’s Tripura unit secretary, Bijan Dhar, wrote in a letter to the CEC.
He categorically stated that the presence of any person holding a very important position like that of the NSA was not only undesirable and objectionable, it was also a glaring instance of blatant misuse of administration by the ruling party at the centre for garnering political mileage in the elections.
“Thus, such misuse of administration is nothing but a real threat to the democratic system of the country,” Dhar wrote.
He urged the CEC to “order an appropriate authority for an investigation into the matter and take stern legal measures in the event the authority finds a fact in the investigation”.
Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland will go to elections around the same time in February this year. For some reasons, the Election Commission has yet not announced the poll schedule. In 2013, the poll dates for the three states were announced on January 11.
The people in Nagaland are opposing the elections and demanding settlement of the protracted “Naga political problem” before Assembly polls. The Naga Hoho, which is the state’s apex social organisation, indicated that the Nagas might reject the polls if held without the solution to the vexed issue.