A record number of candidates are set to win unopposed in the upcoming village committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
The State Election Commission announced that polling will not take place in 1,169 seats, which represents one‑third of the 4,597 seats across 587 village committees, because only single nominations have been received. The commission reviewed all 10,958 nominations filed during the day.
Most of the unopposed candidates belong to the Tipra Motha party. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Tipra Motha, and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura had previously agreed to contest the elections together, but the parties have not yet agreed on a seat‑sharing formula. A senior minister said the alliance is merely a strategy to keep the CPI(M) and the Congress at bay.
The Tipra Motha and the BJP have also fielded candidates for the same seats in several village committees. Nominations can still be withdrawn until September 10. The SEC confirmed that the elections will be conducted peacefully on September 28 and that the Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned 24 companies of Central forces for deployment in sensitive areas of the state.
