Guwahati: The Tipra Motha Party, an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura, has secured 1,548 of the 4,597 village committee seats uncontested in the Sixth Schedule areas of the state, an official said on Saturday.
The BJP has also won 82 seats without a contest following the completion of the nomination withdrawal process on Friday, taking the total number of seats that will not require polling to 1,630.
Tripura State Election Commission Secretary Anurag Sen said elections will now be conducted for the remaining 2,967 seats on September 28.
A total of 9,820 candidates from the Tipra Motha, BJP, CPI(M), Congress and other parties remain in the contest. Tipra Motha has fielded the highest number of candidates at 4,279, followed by the CPI(M) with 2,151 and the BJP with 1,853.
The results are being viewed as significant for Tipra Motha ahead of the 2028 Tripura Assembly elections, particularly given the party’s influence in the state’s tribal areas.
According to poll observer Sekhar Datta, the outcome assumes added importance as Tipra Motha won the elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in April.
A strong performance in the village committee polls could also improve the bargaining position of Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma in potential seat-sharing negotiations with the BJP ahead of the 2028 Assembly elections.
The tribal areas account for around two-thirds of Tripura’s geographical territory and have traditionally played an important role in determining the state’s political balance.
The Left Front, which ruled Tripura for 25 years until 2018, had maintained a significant presence in the state’s tribal constituencies. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) subsequently emerged as an important ally of the BJP during the 2018 Assembly elections.
The emergence of Tipra Motha in 2023, with its demand for a separate administrative arrangement under the slogan of ‘Greater Tipraland’, further altered the political dynamics in the state and complicated the Opposition’s efforts to challenge the BJP-led government.