The Tripura Village Committee elections, scheduled for September 28, saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its main ally, the Tipra Motha Party, secure more than 35 per cent of the 4,597 seats unopposed, according to the State Election Commission. Tipra Motha won 1,548 seats, while the BJP captured 82, bringing the combined tally of the two allies to 1,630 unopposed seats.
Withdrawals of nomination papers on September 11 accounted for the large number of uncontested seats. A total of 1,069 candidates withdrew, including 105 BJP and 80 Tipra Motha nominees. Other parties withdrew from 302 (CPI(M)), 39 (Congress), 128 (IPFT), one (CPI) and 414 seats (independents and unrecognised parties). The remaining 2,967 seats will feature contests after the withdrawal process.
In the contested seats, Tipra Motha fielded the highest number of candidates (2,731), followed by CPI(M) (2,151), BJP (1,853), independents (753), Congress (425) and IPFT (356). The figures reflect multiple candidates per seat, explaining why the total exceeds the number of seats.
The seat‑sharing agreement between the BJP and Tipra Motha, finalized in early September, was intended to prevent overlapping nominations. However, the withdrawal data shows that candidates from both parties still remain in several constituencies, indicating a gap between leadership agreements and local implementation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lath Nath attributed the overlap to limited time for finalizing arrangements and communication challenges at the grassroots.
Both parties’ leaders stressed confidence in a decisive victory. BJP Tripura Pradesh president Abhishek Debroy and Tipra Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma reiterated that disputes would be resolved before the election day, while the BJP maintained that the alliance’s seat‑sharing plan had been broadly settled, even as the final contest list still includes dual‑party candidates in some seats.
