Only 14% seats will witness a contest in the three-tier panchayat elections in Tripura to be held on July 27. The BJP has already won nearly 86% seats unopposed.
The opposition Congress and the CPI(M) are mainly contesting in areas where they succeeded in securing a decent vote share in last Lok Sabha election.
The opposition parties squarely blamed the BJP for allegedly resorting to “terror tactics” to prevent them from putting up candidates, but the ruling party refuted the charge and attributed the failure to the “non-existent organisation of opposition parties in Tripura”.
The election is taking place in areas beyond the jurisdiction of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, which has its own local-level set-up called ‘Village Council’ that will go to poll next year.
The BJP’s share of seats already won is reminiscent of the years of CPI(M) rule when successive governments used to dominate all local elections. However, the number of seats won without contest this time is unprecedented.
Counting on July 31
Of 6,111 seats in gram panchayats, the BJP has won 5,728 seats unopposed, besides 337 of the 419 seats in 35 panchayat samitis and 37 of the 116 seats inzilla parishads. Paper ballots will be used in the panchayat election. Counting will take place on July 31.
