Agartala, Sep 26 — Heavy security measures have been put in place, and district administrations have made elaborate arrangements to ensure the smooth, free and peaceful conduct of the September 28 Village Committee elections in Tripura's tribal areas, officials said on Saturday.
The month-long campaign for the Village Committee elections concluded on Saturday afternoon, with polling scheduled to be held on Monday.
A senior official of the Tripura State Election Commission (TSEC) said that polling parties for the far-flung, mountainous and remote areas were getting ready to leave for their respective destinations. Over 15,000 central and state security personnel have been deployed to ensure the free, fair, smooth and peaceful conduct of the Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas.
A senior police official said that around 74 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), comprising an actual deployment of around 5,000 personnel, along with 10,000 personnel of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Tripura Police, would provide security for the politically important elections to the Village Committees across all eight districts of the state.
The TSEC had earlier announced that elections to 4,597 seats in 2,634 constituencies covering 587 Village Committees -- equivalent to Gram Panchayats in the non-TTAADC areas -- would be held on September 28 after a gap of 10 years.
However, BJP candidates in around two per cent of the total 4,597 seats have already been elected unopposed, with the saffron party securing 81 seats and its ally Tipra Motha Party (TMP) winning 1,557 seats.
A TSEC official said that the TMP won 1,557 seats, accounting for 33.87 per cent of the total 4,597 seats, unopposed, while the BJP secured 81 seats, or 1.76 per cent, uncontested.
According to the TSEC official, following the election of candidates without contest in a large number of seats, polling would now be held in 2,954 seats across 44 of the total 52 blocks in all eight districts of Tripura. After 1,069 candidates of various political parties, including the TMP, BJP and CPI(M), withdrew their nominations, a total of 9,820 candidates are now in the fray for the Village Committee elections.
State Election Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Chakraborty reviewed the overall security and administrative arrangements for the Village Committee elections across the state during a series of virtual and physical meetings.
Tripura Director General of Police (DGP) G.S. Rao, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Manchak Ipper, Commission Secretary Anurag Sen, all the District Magistrates and several other senior officials participated in these meetings.
The ruling BJP, in alliance with its two tribal allies -- the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) -- is contesting against the opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress.
In connection with the elections, a series of incidents have also been reported from different parts of the state.
Senior IPFT leader and Minister Sukla Charan Noatia said that a “brutal” attack was carried out on his party's General Secretary Swapan Debbarma on September 8 at Hezamara in Khowai district.
“Debbarma was targeted and beaten up by supporters of the TMP while he was travelling to Khowai village. This kind of violence is completely unacceptable. IPFT, BJP and TMP are contesting the Village Committee election together as an alliance. Such acts of aggression directly undermine the very spirit of our unity,” Noatia said in a statement.
The allegations made by Noatia come amid heightened political activity and campaigning ahead of the Village Committee elections.
The authorities have stepped up security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident during polling and to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise peacefully.
The Village Committee elections are being held after a decade and are considered significant for local governance in the tribal areas administered by the TTAADC.