No progress in elections to tribal village committees in Tripura

The Tripura State Election Commission is currently working on organising the three-phase panchayat elections but has not made any progress in conducting elections to village committees that come under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).Article 6 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of village committees in place of gaon (village) panchayats.

Elections to 587 village committees have been postponed for long and tribal parties, including the current ruling party in the TTAADC, TIPRA Motha, have repeatedly demanded that the elections be held. In July 2022, a division bench of the Tripura High Court had directed the State Election Commission to complete the election campaign by the end of the year, which failed to happen.

Regional parties and forums representing indigenous people have accused the state government of deliberately postponing the elections to village committees out of political considerations. They lament that the absence of local bodies has adversely affected grassroots level development and civil services in the TTAADC, which covers 68 per cent of the state’s total area.

Interestingly, TIPRA Mota has been conspicuously silent of late on the issue of holding village committee elections. The party leader said on Thursday that they are waiting for the proposed constitutional amendment to empower the TTAADC. He believes that the amendment, which will create a three-tier village committee system similar to the panchayat system, will be a major achievement and will enhance service delivery to the tribal people at large.

He, however, refrained from speculating on when the amendments would be tabled in Parliament but said the party was constantly pressing the state and central governments for amendments.