Elections to the three-tier Gram Panchayats in Tripura will be held on August 8 (Thursday) under a tight security cover after the ruling BJP won 4,806 seats (70 percent) of the total of 6,909 seats unopposed in Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Saradindu Chaudhuri said on Wednesday. 

The SEC said  that to hold the elections peacefully, over 10,000 state security forces, including Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel and around 2200 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel have been deployed. All the polling parties have already reached their respective polling stations with poll materials from the different blocks of the state.

Amidst opposition parties’ allegations of pre-poll violence, intimidation, and attacks, the ruling BJP candidates have emerged victorious without any contest in over 4,551 (71.44 percent) of the 6,370-Gram Panchayat seats, while 235 (55.55 percent) of the 423 Panchayat Samiti seats and 20 (17 percent) of the 116 Zilla Parishad seats won by the BJP nominees unopposed.

According to the SEC officials, elections would be held on Thursday in 1,819 seats of the 606-Gram Panchayats, 188 seats in 35 Panchayat Samitis and in 96 seats in eight Zilla Parishads.

There are 6,370 seats in 606 Gram Panchayats, 423 seats in 35 Panchayat Samitis, and 116 seats in eight Zilla Parishads, with 33 percent reservation for women.

"In the Panchayat Samitis, BJP won 235 or 55 percent of the total 423 seats uncontested. Polling will now be held for 188 seats," SEC said.

The BJP has fielded candidates in all the 188 seats, while the CPI(M) and Congress have nominated candidates in 148 and 98 seats, respectively. The Tipra Motha has fielded candidates in 11 seats, he said.

The BJP won 20 out of 116 Zilla Parishad seats uncontested, which is around 17 percent and the BJP has fielded candidates in all the 96 Zilla Parishad seats where polling will be held, while CPI(M) and Congress nominees are in the fray in 81 and 76 seats, respectively. In the Zilla Parishad, BJP ally Tipra-Motha will contest in two seats, while independent candidates contest in 7 seats.

There are 33 percent reservations of seats for women; there are 6370 seats in 606 Gram Panchayats, 423 seats in 35 Panchayat Samitis and 116 seats in 8 Zilla Parishads.

The SEC sources said that a total of 12,94,153 voters including over 6.35 lakh women electorates are eligible to cast their votes in the local body elections.

The ballot papers in white colour from Gram Panchayat seats, pink for Panchayat Samitis seat and green colour for Zilla Parishad seats will be used for polling.

The counting halls will be set up at block headquarters with approval of SEC and counting of polled votes will start from morning 8 AM on August 12 and will continue till completion, said the SEC.

The Tripura High Court on July 18 directed the SEC to conduct free and fair three-tier Gram Panchayats elections on August 8.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha had asked the SEC to hold the Panchayat elections freely, fairly and transparently.

The High Court passed the orders after the opposition Congress and the CPI (M) earlier filed separate petitions before the court seeking its directions to the SEC to conduct the Gram Panchayats elections freely and fairly after a large number of violent incidents took place across the state while the candidates of the opposition parties tried to submit their nomination papers.

The Congress and the CPI (M)-led Left Front have alleged that the BJP workers and “goons” backed by them did not allow their candidates to submit their nomination papers in hundreds of seats.

The leaders of the opposition parties claimed that despite a series of requests to the SEC and the police, the BJP members and “goons” have unleashed a reign of terror across the state to prevent the opposition candidates from submitting their candidatures.

They also urged the SEC to allow their candidates to submit their nominations through e-mail, but the poll panel rejected the appeal citing lack of legal provisions in this regard.

Congress Working Committee member and former minister Sudip Roy Barman claimed that 3,383 party candidates went to submit their nomination papers in the concerned offices, but due to the violent obstruction by the ruling party cadres, they could not submit the same.

Tripura CPI (M) leader and Left Front convener Narayan Kar also claimed that the Left party candidate Badal Shil for the South Tripura Zilla Parishad was critically injured in an attack by BJP-backed goons on July 12 at Rajnagar in South Tripura district. A day later, he succumbed to his injuries.

The Congress and the CPI(M) leaders have separately claimed that around a hundred candidates, party workers, and supporters were injured after being attacked by the ruling party members and goons backed by them since the election schedule was announced on July 10.

The BJP, however, has rejected the accusations, saying the Congress and the Left parties could not find enough candidates to field for the rural body polls.

In the last Panchayat elections held on July 27, 2019, the ruling BJP had won more than 95 per cent of the seats of which 86 per cent were unopposed, terming the entire election process as a ‘farce’ by the opposition CPI(M) and the Congress.