Agartala: The Tripura Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed a unanimous resolution to prepone the TTAADC elections in view of festivals of both tribal and Bengali communities falling on the poll day.
Legislators from all political parties were of the view that the elections should be conducted on April 12, 2026, instead of April 13, as Garia Puja, Bisu, and Buisu festivals are scheduled to be observed on the same day.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has already drawn the attention of the State Election Commission and demanded that the polls be rescheduled to respect the cultural and traditional values of the electorate, who are expected to be engaged in festivities on the poll date.
The matter was raised by senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman during the Zero Hour discussion. He urged members of the House to postpone the elections and the counting date.
Leaders of all other political parties, including Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, supported the proposal and asserted that a resolution should be passed by the Assembly and forwarded to the State Election Commission.
Responding to the views expressed by the MLAs, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha said, “This is a very sensitive matter. We must not take any decision in haste. I want to make all the members aware of the complications that may arise from postponing the elections. The present tenure of the elected council is slated to end on April 18, and if the polls cannot be held within that period, the council will have to be dissolved and an administrator appointed to oversee the administration.”
Participating in the discussion, Tipra Motha MLA Chittaranjan Debbarma proposed that the poll date could be advanced by a day to avoid such issues. “Instead of April 13, the polls could be held on April 12. Apart from that, the rest of the schedule could remain unchanged, as there are no objections regarding the counting day,” he said.
Debbarma’s proposal was supported by MLAs from the other four parties — BJP, Congress, CPI(M), and IPFT. Tripura Cabinet spokesperson and Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury read out the resolution, which was subsequently approved.
In the same context, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath proposed that the Assembly session, which was scheduled to run till March 25, be cut short, as all political parties need to begin campaigning and the last date for nomination is also March 25.
Newly appointed Speaker Rampada Jamatia accepted the proposal, and a Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting was convened in his chamber to discuss the duration of the session.