Over 230 Tripura officials transferred on Election Commission's orders ahead of Assembly polls

Agartala: Ahead of the 18 February polls, over 230 officials, including 10 returning officers, besides police, have been transferred in Tripura to comply with the poll panel’s orders, an official said on Saturday. In total 180 police officials, 58 civil administration officials, including 10 returning officers, have been transferred since last week in the state, in keeping with the Election Commission’s orders and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The MCC was enforced by the Election Commission on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4311785” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] On Friday night, 58 civil administration officials were transferred and asked to join their new postings within 24 hours, an election official said. Of the 58, other than the 10 returning officers, six were sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs). Earlier last week, the Tripura Police Authority transferred 180 police officers, including 20 Officers-in-Charge (OCs) of police stations and 29 Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officers. Tripura chief electoral officer Sriram Taranikanti said that altogether 40 all-women polling stations would be set up in 40 of the 60 Assembly constituencies in eight districts of the state. “This is the first time in Tripura that so many polling stations would be set up for exclusive deployment of women polling staffs,” the official told the media. Polling will be held in 3,214 polling stations across Tripura. A two-member Election Commission team led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain held a series of meetings with senior officials, including Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Sukhla, since Thursday and reviewed the poll preparations. The Election Commission team, which visited all the eight districts during the last three days, left on Saturday for New Delhi. The poll panel also asked the state authorities to arrest all those persons against whom warrants were pending.