Prior to 2023 state polls, Tripura parties prepare for village panel elections

With the target of forming their government for a second term in 2023, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already started their activities to strengthen their organisation

Ahead of the assembly polls scheduled to be held in 2023, the political parties of Tripura are gearing up for the upcoming village committee polls of the autonomous district council.

The tenure of the 587 Village Committees (VCs) ended on March 7, 2021. (File image)

The High Court of Tripura, in a recent verdict, requested the state government to announce the schedule of village committee polls of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and complete the poll process with declaration of results by first week of November.

The HC gave the order based on a public interest litigation that sought to constitute 587 village committees as the previous term of the elected bodies lapsed on March last year.

Accordingly, the state Election Commission served notification on guidelines for preparing electoral rolls of the village committees’ constituencies and polling stations.

With the target of forming their government for a second term in 2023, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already started their activities to strengthen their organisation.

The saffron party discussed political, economic and other development-related issues during their different series of meetings ranging from booth-level to state committee.

A training camp was also organised for the booth-level workers with special concentration on finding shortcomings in each and every consituency.

Earlier in June, the party triumphed in the by-polls by winning three out of four Assembly constituencies.

“We are focussing on our activities across the state. We are ready for any kind of election now,” said BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee.

With the High Court’s verdict on the village committee polls, the TIPRA Motha headed by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma started their series of meetings with the grassroot workers recently.

“In the meetings, our special focus is to prepare strategy for the village committee polls,” said TIPRA Motha president BK Hrankhawl.

Founded in 2021, the TIPRA Motha took the ruling BJP’s ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in the backfoot as their Greater Tipraland demand overpowered IPFT’s poll agenda Tipraland.

Greater Tipraland is a proposed state for the indigenous communities of Tripura and other northeastern states including neighbouring country, Bangladesh.

Currently, the party is in power in the TTAADC.

Political experts feel that the BJP’s popularity among the indigenous population face tough challenges with arrival of the royal scion’s party.

“Schedule of the village committee polls is yet to be announced. So, no reaction on the outcome of the polls can be given eyeing the present scenario. But the BJP may find TIPRA Motha as their strongest competitor in the hills. Moreover, popularity of the royals among the indigenous people cannot be ignored,” said veteran political expert C Dey.

The CPM and Congress are yet to announce their decision on the coming polls.