AGARTALA: Voters in Tripura’s tribal areas turned out in strong numbers for the village committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), with turnout exceeding 81 per cent. Women voters outnumbered men at the polls.
Polling was held for 2,950 seats across 587 village committees, after 1,644 seats had already been won unopposed by Tipra Motha Party and BJP candidates. Voting began at 8 am at all 1,095 polling booths, and State Election Commission secretary Anurag Sen said it was peaceful, with long queues outside the booths. Tribal men and women in traditional attire were seen waiting to vote under tight security.
As many as 8,176 candidates from TMP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress and IPFT were in the fray. BJP, TMP and IPFT contested as part of the NDA, while the CPI(M) and Congress contested separately.
The elections came nearly a decade after the previous village committee polls.