BJP, CPI-M welcome High Court’s ruling on TTADC elections

All political parties including the ruling BJP and opposition CPIM, Congress, and TIPRA Motha welcomed the order of the Tripura High Court on Tuesday asking the State Election Commission and state machinery to notify the dates of the election at the earliest.

The court has also asked to complete the entire process of village committee elections, including the declaration of results, within the first week of November.

The High Court order, issued by Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice SG Chattopadhyay, came on July 13 in response to a writ petition filed by Rajesh Debbarma and Dahlia Debbarma.

The grievance of the petitioners was that the State Election Commission did not take any steps to hold elections and constitute the village committees.

Notably, the 5-year term of 587 village committees under TTAADC ended on March 7 last year, and while a year had passed, elections were not taking place – an issue raised by the opposition parties regularly.

The parties alleged that the ruling BJP had been influencing the state election commission for deferring the polls as it does not have a strong base in the areas.

Speaking to Northeast Live, Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman said although there were other elections that were held in the state amid covid-19 alerts, the TTAADC polls had been an exception. Roy Barman alleged that COVID-19 was just an excuse and that the ruling party had purposely wanted to defer the polls.

However, the BJP has time and again denied allegations, and has maintained that the state election commission is an autonomous body.

BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee denying the allegations leveled by the opposition parties stated that the BJP has proved to be the most powerful party in the recent elections and viewed that the future of the TIPRA Motha which is at present in power in the TTAADC is very uncertain and hinted at that the party like other tribal regional parties of the past in the state of Tripura shall become totally irrelevant and nonexistent.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Speaker and CPIM leader Pabitra Kar while welcoming the decision of the court said the state government should implement the verdict as early as possible.