Tripura HC directs state poll panel to conduct free and fair panchayat elections

Agartala, July 18 (IANS) The Tripura High Court on Thursday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct free and fair three-tier Gram Panchayats elections on August 8.A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha asked the SEC to hold the panchayat elections freely, fairly and transparently.The High Court passed the orders after the opposition Congress and the CPI-M earlier filed separate petitions before the court seeking its directions to the SEC to conduct the Gram Panchayats elections freely and fairly after a large number of violent incidents took place across the state while the candidates of the opposition parties tried to submit their nomination papers.Senior lawyer Purushottam Ray Barman said after the High Court order that the Congress has sought a direction from the High Court to submit the nomination papers by the candidates through online mode after the SEC turned down the opposition party’s request in this regard.“The High Court in its order recognised the submission of nomination papers online.”The court said with the advancement of technology and with the ever increasing criminalisation of