DA Editorial Team
The Village Committee results from the tribal council areas of Tripura leave little room for ambiguity. The BJP-Tipra Motha alliance secured 4,320 seats, with Tipra Motha winning 3,428, the BJP 859 and the IPFT 33. Of the 4,597 seats at stake, the opposition was left with scraps. The hills have spoken, and mostly in one voice.
The most important fact is easy to miss: these were the first Village Committee elections in the tribal areas in a decade. The previous polls were held in 2016, and the elected bodies’ tenure ended in March 2021. For years, the lowest tier of self-government in two-thirds of the state’s territory ran without elected representatives. Whatever the verdict, the return of the ballot to the village is itself a gain.
But the scale of the win needs scrutiny. Tipra Motha secured 1,548 seats uncontested before a single vote was cast. A third of the seats were settled without a contest. Walkovers can reflect organisational strength, but they also mean thousands of voters never got to choose. A healthy grassroots democracy needs contests, not just coronations.
The decline of the opposition is stark. After the 2016 polls, the Left parties held a majority in 520 of the 587 committees. A decade later, the CPI(M) and Congress are marginal players in the hills. Tipra Motha has taken that space, built on indigenous identity and its Greater Tipraland demand rather than on ideology. The Left and Congress must ask why they lost the trust of the very voters who once sustained them.
The campaign also left a shadow. Counting was marked by tension and reports of violence at several locations, and repolling was held on 3 October at three polling stations. One death was reported from Tulashikhar during counting. The State Election Commission must investigate every incident, and the parties must restrain their cadres. A mandate won under intimidation carries less weight than one won cleanly.
Politically, the numbers carry a message for the ruling partners. The BJP and Tipra Motha contested the April council polls separately, and only afterwards agreed a seat-sharing arrangement for these elections. The balance in the hills is plain: Tipra Motha has roughly four seats for every one the BJP holds. Analysts see this strengthening Tipra Motha’s bargaining position ahead of the 2028 Assembly elections. The alliance will have to manage that shift carefully, since a partner that dominates the hills will expect to be treated as an equal in the plains.
Winning is the easy part. Village Committees are where roads, drinking water, jhum livelihoods and welfare schemes either reach people or don’t. Having swept the field, the ruling alliance has no one else to blame. The voters of the hills have given it a decisive mandate, and they will judge it on delivery.