Agartala: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tripura has announced that it will contest the upcoming village committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in alliance with the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). This was revealed by state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee on Sunday.
“We believe in coalition politics… we will fight the elections to the village committees under the TTAADC collectively after consultation with our two allies, TMP and IPFT,” Bhattacharjee stated during a press briefing.
The decision marks a significant shift in political dynamics. While the BJP and TMP contested the 2023 assembly elections separately, TMP joined the BJP-led coalition government a year later.
The TTAADC, which operates under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, oversees 587 village committees functioning similarly to panchayats. The elections for these committees were initially due in February 2021 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a subsequent delimitation process. The Tripura High Court, in response to a petition filed by TMP, directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct the elections by December 2024. However, the poll schedule is yet to be announced.
Bhattacharjee emphasized the ongoing efforts by the BJP and its tribal wing, Janajati Morcha, to highlight the government’s achievements in tribal areas. “Today, we organised a state-level programme – ‘Empowering Janajati, Empowering Tripura’ – to showcase the good work done by the BJP-led government over the past seven years. Similar events will be organized at district and block levels,” he added.
He also highlighted the government’s focus on the development of tribal areas, noting that more funds have been allocated to tribal-dominated blocks than to non-tribal areas, with a particular emphasis on infrastructure projects like road construction, drinking water supply, housing, and livelihood programs.
“The 23-year-old Bru issue has been resolved permanently by rehabilitating the internally displaced families during the BJP rule. In addition, 18 Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been sanctioned to ensure proper education for tribal students,” Bhattacharjee further stated.
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