A day after the Supreme Court denied the Tripura government additional time to respond to a petition filed by ruling TIPRA founder Motha over delay in holding village committee elections in the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday said the state was ready for any elections.
“We never said that we don’t want to conduct village committee polls… but it is being put forward as if we are not interested in holding polls… We have raised the issue (before the authorities concerned). I can give more details after I get them. We are ready for all kinds of polls, be it village committee polls or TTAADC polls…” Saha told reporters at the Agartala Press Club.
The setback from the Supreme Court on Monday came despite the government counsel seeking more time to hold village committee elections for the TTAADC. Lawyer Shuvodeep Roy appealed to the court for inclusion of the order two weeks later.
In a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, he wrote: “The present case is for hearing by a Bench comprising the Hon’ble Mr. Chief Justice and the Hon’ble Mr. Justice K. Vinod Chandran. In this case, the undersigned have appeared on behalf of the respondent – State of Tripura on 31.10.2025 and a reply affidavit is to be filed, for which full instructions are awaited. The undersigned, therefore, prays for adjournment so that the matter is listed after two weeks.
Soon after the Supreme Court dismissed the petition, TIPRA Motha founder Pradyut Kishore Debbarma took to social media, saying: “Today in the Supreme Court fighting for justice for the poor people of TIPRASA who have been deprived of their democratic rights due to non-conduct of village capital elections. It has been almost 10 years since the last village council elections were held.”
Pradyut Kishor attended the Supreme Court hearing along with TTAADC CEO Poorna Chandra Jamatia, TTAADC President Jagadish Debbarma, TIPRA Motha Minister Preshakettu Debbarma, MLAs Philip Kumar Range and Pathanlal Jamatia, and TTAADC member Dhirendra Debbarma.
The court had earlier directed the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct the delayed polls to village committees immediately under the Tripura Automatic District Council for Tribal Areas Act, 1994.
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A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice NV Angaria asked stakeholders to explain the reason for the delay in holding the elections.
Tripura HC deadline is November 2022
TTAADC extends across 70 percent of the state’s geographic area but is distributed in almost all regions of the state. It includes more than 30 per cent of the state’s tribal population belonging to 19 tribal communities and is administered locally through 587 village committees.
The elections for these committees, scheduled to be held in March 2021, had been postponed earlier due to the Covid pandemic, and an administrator was appointed under the supervision of the governor.
While several activists took the SEC to the Tripura High Court in 2022, and the court ordered the poll panel to hold the elections by the first week of November that year, the elections are yet to be held.
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In August 2022, the SEC issued a notification announcing the guidelines for village committee elections for TTAADC.
(Tags for translation)ttaadc
