Agartala, October 3: Ahead of the counting of votes for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Village Committee elections, Tipra Motha party on Saturday expressed confidence of winning more than 470 of the 587 Village Committees, while projecting that the ruling NDA partners together could secure over 500 committees.
Speaking to reporters after a review meeting of the party at Manikya Court here on Saturday, Tipra Motha senior leader and Minister of State Brishaketu Debbarma said the party had conducted a constituency-wise assessment of the September 28 polling and was confident of crossing the 470-committee mark.
“We hope to win at least above 470, and with the NDA, we expect to win above 500,” Debbarma said, referring to the party’s assessment ahead of the counting on October 5.
The meeting was attended by senior Tipra Motha leaders, including MLA Ranjit Debbarma, TTAADC Chief Executive Member Runiel Debbarma and other party leaders. The discussions focused on the party’s performance across constituencies and preparations for the counting process.
The long-pending Village Committee elections were held on September 28 across the TTAADC areas. The election covered 587 Village Committees comprising 4,597 seats. After the withdrawal of nominations, 1,644 seats were won uncontested, leaving 2,956 seats in 432 Village Committees for polling. A total of 8,176 candidates contested these seats.
The State Election Commission had initially listed 9,61,977 voters for the elections. For the contested seats, polling was held at 1,095 polling stations involving 6,58,247 electors. The final turnout, including election-duty votes, was reported at 81.21 per cent.
The elections, conducted through ballot papers, were the first Village Committee polls in the TTAADC areas since 2016. The tenure of the previous elected committees ended in March 2021.
Debbarma also appealed to the administration and election authorities to ensure peace and maintain adequate security at counting centres on October 5.
He said the party had already discussed the issue with the State Election Commission and local administration, including officials at the district and police levels.
The Tipra Motha leader also raised the September 28 firing incident at Warengbari in Gomati district, in which a party candidate was seriously injured along with two others during polling. The party has been demanding the arrest of all those allegedly involved in the incident.
The MoS said that they have full confidence on the administration and police have already arrested four persons in connection with the case, while the investigation is continuing to identify others allegedly involved.
Debbarma said Tipra Motha leaders, MLAs and MDCs had visited the affected area and appealed to the administration to take action against those responsible.
The party had earlier approached the State Election Commission seeking action over the firing and had demanded that those responsible be arrested.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Debbarma said Tipra Motha supported the exercise but maintained that indigenous people of Tripura should not face difficulties during the verification process.
Counting of votes for the Village Committee elections is scheduled for October 5, with the final election process slated to conclude by October 8.
