Counting of votes for Tripura village committee polls in tribal council begins
Agartala, Oct 5 (PTI) Counting of votes for village committee elections in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) began on Monday amid tight security, an official said.
Elections to the 587 Village Committees in eight districts of the northeastern state were held on September 28. It recorded 81 per cent polling.
"The counting of votes for village committees began at all the 44 counting centres on Monday at 8 am," State Election Commission's secretary Anurag Sen said.
According to him, since the voting was held on ballot papers, it will take some time to complete the counting process.
"It may take even two days to complete the whole counting of ballot papers in a big RD Block like Manu in Dhalai district. We have taken steps to complete the process at the earliest," he said.
A prohibitory order under section 163 of BNSS has been imposed in tribal areas of Gomati district following a firing incident at Warengbari on the day of voting, in which one Tipra Motha Party (TMP) candidate was injured.
Out of 4,597 seats of 587 Village Committees, voting was held for 2,950 seats. The Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the BJP won 1,644 seats unopposed.
As many as 8,176 candidates from all major political parties -- TMP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) -- are in the fray.
Since the TTAADC area comprises two-thirds of Tripura and sends 20 MLAs to the 60-member Assembly, the outcome of the village committee polls is seen as crucial for the TMP in the 2028 state elections.
The TMP, an ally of the BJP-led coalition government, swept the April tribal council elections, winning 24 out of 28 seats. The two parties had contested the TTAADC elections separately, but are fighting village committee elections under the NDA banner.
