Khowai, Nov 2: Ruling party-backed miscreants gathered near the Returning Officer's office and prevented Left Front candidates from filing nominations by the noon deadline for the Khowai Municipal Council election on Monday, the CPI(M) alleged. The candidates finally submitted their papers for 13 of the 15 wards at around 3.10 pm, under tight police security.
Left Front leaders said the miscreants threatened the opposition candidates near the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Returning Officer Rimita Saha. They also accused the police of failing to provide adequate security.
The candidates submitted their papers to Saha after the police arranged security.
In protest, the CPI(M)'s Subhash Park regional committee held a rally in the afternoon. It passed through different parts of the town and ended with a meeting at Nripen Chakraborty Avenue.
Addressing the meeting, CPI(M) Khowai divisional committee secretary and MLA Nirmal Biswas accused the ruling party of denying opposition candidates their democratic rights. He asked why the ruling party was afraid of a contest when it claimed to have done well in running the municipality.
CPI(M) state committee member Palash Bhowmik, Gautam Pal and Kanan Datta also attended the meeting.
The Left Front candidates are Seema Deb Roy (ward 1), Gautam Pal (2), Jharna Deb Sarkar (3), Sagar Pal (4), Tapas Deb (5), Manju Deb (6), Minakshi Das (7), Samrat Chakraborty (8), Soma Deb Datta (10), Jutan Ghosh (11), Jayanti Bhattacharya (12), Sayantika Deb (13) and Debashish Sarkar (Nupur) (14).
The Left Front did not file nominations in wards 9 and 15. The reason was not known.
