India News | Tripura: BJP's Kalyani Roy Calls Independent Candidates in Panchayat Polls 'enemies of Society'

Agartala, Aug 8 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Kalyani Roy on Thursday called the Independent candidates fighting the panchayat elections in Tripura enemies of the society.

The comment made by Roy, the government chief whip in the assembly, was apparently aimed at CPI(M) and Congress members who are contesting the polls as Independent candidates.

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"Voters are enthusiastic over the elections. They are coming and voting spontaneously. There has been no chaos in the Teliamura subdivision. We are receiving overwhelming support from the people," she said.

Roy said the Independent candidates were against development and enemies of society.

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"In a democracy, the opposition does exist, and the Independents are part of the opposition. But the state has no history of Independents winning elections," she said.

"Those who depend on the government, receive benefits, and then contest (election) against the government are being called 'Mir Jafar' by the people," she added.

Leader of the opposition Jitendra Chaudhry of the CPI(M) said Roy must publish a list of such candidates.

"If the list is published then the people will know who gets benefits from the government," he said.

Polling was underway for the three-tier panchayat system in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)