Reported by Mrinal Kanti Banik
Agartala: Counting of votes for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Village Committee elections began across Tripura on Monday, with authorities deploying around 2,000 personnel to ensure the process was conducted peacefully and securely.
The counting commenced at 8 am at 45 designated venues, with 44 counting halls set up across the state, officials said.
At the Mandai RD Block in West Tripura district, counting was underway for 57 seats across 15 Village Committees. State police and central paramilitary personnel were deployed around the counting centre as part of the security arrangements.
Candidates, counting agents and election officials, including Returning Officers and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Jirania, were present at the venue. Stakeholders appealed for peace, harmony and maintenance of law and order throughout the counting process.
Counting also began without incident at Mungiakami RD Block, where results from six seats attracted particular attention as BJP and Tipra Motha candidates were competing against each other despite being alliance partners.
According to results declared so far, Tipra Motha candidates have secured four of the six seats, while BJP-backed candidates have won two.
Earlier, BJP-backed candidates Tahsil Debbarma and Priya Mohan Debbarma defeated Tipra Motha nominees in the 18 Mura ADC Village and Tui Korm ADC Village, respectively.
TTAADC MDC and Tipra Motha leader Utpal Debbarma said both polling and counting in Mungiakami had remained peaceful.
“There are 14 Village Committees under Mungiakami RD Block. The election was peaceful and there were no incidents. The counting is also taking place peacefully,” he said.
Debbarma said the focus should now be on development rather than the electoral outcome. He noted that the Village Committee elections were being held after a decade and expressed hope that development activities would accelerate following the polls.
Tribal Welfare Minister and BJP MLA Bikash Debbarma also said the counting process was proceeding peacefully. He described the contests between BJP and Tipra Motha candidates in the six seats as a “friendly fight”.
He said BJP, Tipra Motha and IPFT are alliance partners and attributed the contests between BJP and Tipra Motha candidates to what he described as a “misunderstanding”.
“If Tipra Motha wins, it is our victory, and if the BJP wins, it is also our victory,” Bikash Debbarma said.
He added that the alliance’s primary political contest was with the CPI(M) and expressed confidence in the performance of the alliance candidates.
The TTAADC Village Committee elections were held on September 28, marking the first such polls in 10 years. The elections recorded an overall voter turnout of 81.21 per cent.
Repolling was conducted on October 3 at three polling stations across two Village Committees following an order from the State Election Commission.
Polling was largely peaceful, although a firing incident was reported at Gamaria under the Udaipur subdivision.
A senior State Election Commission official said counting at centres with a larger number of Village Committees could continue into Tuesday morning, while results at some other centres were expected to be completed by Monday evening.
The elections assume political significance as BJP and Tipra Motha are contesting the polls as alliance partners, although the seat-sharing arrangement could not be implemented uniformly across all Village Committees.