Agartala, Sep 28 (IANS) : Over 20 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 10 a.m. on Monday in the Village Committee elections in Tripura’s tribal areas, where polling is being held after a gap of 10 years, officials said.
Men and women voters, mostly from tribal communities, queued up in large numbers outside polling stations well before voting began at 7 a.m. across eight districts.
A senior official at the Tripura Police headquarters said no untoward incident had been reported from any of the poll-bound areas so far.
The ruling BJP, in alliance with its two tribal allies — the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) — is contesting against the opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front and Congress in the elections to the Village Committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
A senior official of the Tripura State Election Commission (TSEC) said all necessary administrative and security arrangements had been made to ensure free, fair, peaceful and transparent polling.
Elections are being held for 2,950 seats in 587 Village Committees out of a total of 4,597 seats.
As many as 1,644 seats have already been won uncontested by the candidates of TMP and BJP, while nominations were not filed for three seats. A total of 8,176 candidates from different political parties are in the fray for the polls.
Around 6.65 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at 1,095 polling stations in eight districts, the official said.
Four types of ballot papers — white, light pink, light green and light blue — are being used for different categories of seats.
Extra security arrangements have been made at polling stations in sensitive and remote areas, with Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel deployed there.
Nearly 7,458 polling personnel have been divided into 1,243 teams to manage polling-related activities at the polling stations, the official said.
A senior police official said more than 15,000 Central and state security personnel had been deployed across the eight districts to ensure free, fair, smooth and peaceful polling.
Around 74 CAPF companies, comprising nearly 5,000 personnel, along with 10,000 personnel from the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Tripura Police, have been deployed for security during the elections.
The TSEC had earlier announced elections for 4,597 seats across 587 Village Committees, which are equivalent to Gram Panchayats in non-TTAADC and non-tribal areas.
According to the TSEC, the TMP won 1,557 seats, or 33.87 per cent, uncontested, while the BJP secured 81 seats, or 1.76 per cent, without a contest. Following the election of candidates without contest and the withdrawal of nominations by 1,069 candidates belonging to various political parties, including the TMP, BJP and CPI(M), polling is being held on Monday for 2,950 seats across 44 of the 52 blocks in all eight districts.
Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the Village Committee elections are being held after a decade, and are considered significant for local governance in the tribal areas administered by the TTAADC.
Since 2021, the Tipra Motha Party, led by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, has governed the 30-member TTAADC, comprising 28 elected members and two nominated by the state government.
The TTAADC came into existence under the Sixth Schedule on April 1, 1985, following the 49th Amendment to the Indian Constitution. It has jurisdiction over nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and is home to more than 12.16 lakh people, around 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous communities.
Votes would be counted on October 5.
