Left calls 12-hour Tripura shutdown on Sunday to protest murder of CPI-M Zilla Parishad candidate

Agartala, July 13 (IANS) Tripura’s opposition CPI-M-led Left Front called a 12-hour statewide shutdown on Sunday to protest against the murder of a CPI-M candidate for the South Tripura Zilla Parishad in the August 8 three-tier Gram Panchayats elections. The Congress has expressed its support.Tripura Left Front convener Narayan Kar alleged that Badal Shil was critically injured in a deadly attack by ruling BJP-backed assailants on Friday at Rajnagar in South Tripura district. The CPI-M leader, after preliminary treatment in the local hospital, was shifted to the government-run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday afternoon, Kar told the media on Saturday night.More than a dozen Left party leaders and members were injured across the state in the BJP attacks after the panchayat election schedule was announced on July 10.CPI-M Tripura state Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said that the Left parties would not organise any picketing on Sunday in support of the state-wide shutdown and appealed to the people to spontaneously observe the dawn-to-dusk strike.Congress Working Committee member and former Minister Sudip Roy Barman said that his party would support the Left Front-sponsored shutdown on Sunday.However, BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee said that his party would strongly oppose the shutdown as it would disturb the normal situation of the state ahead of the panchayat elections.Elections to the three-tier Gram Panchayats in Tripura will be held on August 8 and the votes will be counted on August 12. Amidst sporadic incidents of political violence, candidates of various political parties are submitting their nominations in 370 seats in 606 Gram Panchayats, 423 seats in 35 Panchayat Samitis, and 116 seats in eight Zilla Parishads.–IANSsc/vd