Agartala, October 19, 2022 : Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, a regional socio-political party in Tripura on Wednesday, organized a protest rally-cum-mass deputation against the delay in Village Committee elections in the state.
TIPRA Motha leaders, executive members in TTAADC and MDCs with office bearers of YTF and TWF on Wednesday presented a letter addressing to the Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya through various Block Development Officers in the ADC areas across the state.
“The five year tenure of all village committees under the TTAADC ended on March 7th 2021. Since then the villages are suffering a lot on the developmental aspects and the lives of Indigenous people is being hampered. However the State Election Commission gave excuse related to upgradation of electoral rolls and mentioned that 21703 new voters belonging to the migrant BRU/REANG community from Mizoram will be deprived from voting as they have been permanently resettled in Tripura”, the letter reads.
The letter further added that “The TIPRA MOTHA was the only party to come ahead and advocate towards the inclusion of names of the migrant BRU/REANG community in the electoral rolls so that their representation in the democratic system must not be hampered. The State Election Commission submitted another affidavit mentioning October 26th, 2022 as the tentative date for notification of Polls & November 28th, 2022 as possible polling dates. After hearing both sides the Hon’ble High Court added that the election to village committees is long and overdue and holding of timely elections is a basic feature of democracy and instructed the state administration to notify the date of election at the earliest and finish the elections within the first week of November 2022.”
TIPRA Motha leaders alleged that the State Election Commission (SEC) is extending the election dates despite the said efforts by the Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura. Out of 21,703 eligible voters, only 6,052 BRU/REANG migrants will be enrolled till October 15.
The State Election Commission (SEC) is absconding from its responsibilities and committing contempt of directions given by the Hon’ble High Court.
Therefore, the TIPRA Motha leaders demanded to conduct elections on all village Committee seats except those villages where the electoral rolls are incomplete or pending. This will maintain the dignity of the law and citizens’ faith in the democratic framework.