Agartala, Aug 31 (IANS) The Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced that elections to the Village Committees within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) will be conducted on September 28, setting the stage for a significant electoral battle across the state’s tribal-dominated regions.
Tripura State Election Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Chakraborty said that the concerned returning officers will issue the statutory notification on Tuesday (September 1). The last date for filing nominations has been fixed as September 8. Scrutiny of nominations will take place the following day, while September 11 has been scheduled as the deadline for withdrawal of candidature. The counting of votes will be held on October 5.
Elections to 4597 seats under 2634 constituencies in 587 Village Committees (equivalent to Gram Panchayats in the non-TTAADC areas) will be held after a gap of 10 years.
Tribal based Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma said that the Village Committee elections will be held following the directions of the Supreme Court.
“After I filed a petition before the Supreme Court, the apex court directed the SEC to hold the crucial elections. The Model Code of Conduct has come into force with immediate effect in the TTAADC areas,” Chakraborty told the media.
The SEC, accompanied by State Director General of Police (DGP) G. S Rao and Commission Secretary Anurag Sen, said that a total of 9,61,977 voters, predominantly from tribal communities, are eligible to cast their votes in the upcoming Village Committee elections, which include 4,79,930 women voters and 4,82,041 male voters.
Since 2021, the politically important TTAADC has been governed by the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma.
In the April 12 (2026) TTAADC elections, TMP won 24 of the 28 elected seats, while the BJP secured only four.
The council administers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s total area of 10,491 square km and is home to more than 12.16 lakh people, of whom nearly 84 per cent belong to indigenous tribal communities.
The TTAADC was established on August 23, 1984, following the passage of the 49th Amendment of the Constitution in Parliament, with the aim of safeguarding the rights, welfare and development of tribal population in the state.
The first elections to the fully functional TTAADC were held in 1985, marking a major milestone in the long-standing movement for tribal self-governance.
Ahead of the upcoming elections, major political parties, including the BJP, its ally the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), and the TMP, along with opposition parties such as the CPI-M and the Congress, have intensified their campaigns to consolidate support among tribal voters.
Tribals constitute nearly one-third of Tripura’s 4.2 million population and continue to play a decisive role in shaping the state’s political landscape.
–IANS
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