Tripura BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee,.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Preparations have been completed for the three-tier panchayat elections in Tripura scheduled on Thursday (August 8, 2024). Polls will be held only in a few hundred seats as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 70% of the seats uncontested.
Gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads collectively comprise a total of 6,889 seats. The BJP has already won 4,805 of them unopposed.
Opposition parties, including the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress have accused the ruling party of using terror and threats to turn the election into a “farce”. The BJP has denied these allegations and blamed the Opposition’s “weak organisation” for their failure to contest.
The State Election Commission announced on Wednesday evening that polling parties had reached their assigned destinations, and voting would begin at 7 a.m. The State police are overseeing security at the polling stations.
“We have also deployed TSR [Tripura State Rifles] troops in some areas due to their sensitive nature,” a police officer told reporters. A special alert has been issued for the Khowai and Bishalgarh subdivisions, where Opposition parties have managed to put up candidates.
In the 2019 election, the BJP secured over 90% of the seats, which Opposition parties attributed to the alleged violent pressure tactics of the saffron party.
Panchayat elections will not take place in areas under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which has limited jurisdiction over three-fourths of the State’s land. Village Committees are set up in villages under the TTAADC.
Despite a court order and the consent of the State Election Commission, the election to the Village Committees has been overdue. The TIPRA Motha, the TTAADC’s ruling party, said it was waiting for a Constitutional amendment to reshape the provisions of the Sixth Schedule before accepting the proposal to hold the election.
