Tripura village committee poll counting begins amid tight security

Counting of votes for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Village Committee elections began across the state on Monday, October 5, amid tight security.

The counting process started at 8 am at all 44 counting centres, State Election Commission secretary Anurag Sen said. Since the elections were conducted using ballot papers, officials expect the process to take considerable time in some areas.

Sen said counting in large rural development blocks, such as Manu in Dhalai district, could take up to two days. Authorities, he said, have taken steps to complete the counting at the earliest.

Elections to 587 Village Committees were held on September 28, recording an overall voter turnout of 81 per cent. Of the 4,597 seats across the committees, polling was held for 2,950 seats, while the remaining 1,644 seats were won unopposed by candidates of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the BJP.

A total of 8,176 candidates from the TMP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) are contesting the elections.

Security arrangements have been tightened in the tribal areas following a firing incident at Warengbari on polling day, in which a TMP candidate was injured. A prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) has also been imposed in parts of Gomati district.

The village committee results are being closely watched as the TTAADC region covers nearly two-thirds of Tripura and accounts for 20 of the state's 60 Assembly constituencies. The outcome is therefore expected to offer an indication of political trends ahead of the 2028 Tripura Assembly elections.

The TMP, which is an ally of the BJP-led state government, had secured a decisive victory in the April TTAADC elections, winning 24 of the 28 seats. While the BJP and TMP contested those elections separately, they have joined hands under the NDA banner for the village committee polls.