TMP has secured an absolute majority in the state’s second most important constitutional body after the Assembly.
The 30-member TTAADC comprises 28 elected representatives and two members nominated by the state government and administers nearly 70 per cent of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km geographical area.
The tribal-based TMP, headed by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, secured 24 seats, six more than in the previous elections.
Chairman and Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the outgoing TTAADC, Jagadhish Debbarma, and Purna Chandra Jamatia, both senior TMP leaders, respectively, have both been re-elected.
The BJP, however, managed to win only four seats this time, a decline from the 10 seats it secured in the 2021 TTAADC elections.
The CPI (M)-led Left Front and the Congress party, as in the 2021 TTAADC elections, have once again failed to open their accounts.In the 2021 TTAADC elections, the BJP contested 11 seats and won nine, while a BJP-backed Independent candidate also emerged victorious and later joined the TMP.
The TMP had won 18 seats in the last elections (2021) and took away the reign of council from the CPI (M)-led Left Front after several years. The tribals accounts for 20 assembly seats in 60 member assembly.
Formed in 1985 the council is an area under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. TMP is an ally of BJP in the state government however both parties faught the polls on its own. There were several clashes between the supporters of the two parties in last one years.
In the run up to polls both parties were engaged in bitter political slugfest.
The electoral contest in the tribal council polls featured three national parties — the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front, and the Congress — along with two prominent regional parties, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). Several smaller parties and Independent candidates were also in the fray.
The BJP, TMP, and the Left Front fielded candidates in all 28 constituencies. The Congress contested 27 seats, while the IPFT nominated candidates in 24 constituencies. In addition, 38 Independent candidates.
The BJP and its two tribal-based allies — TMP and IPFT — had contested the April 12 elections separately after failing to reach an electoral understanding for the TTAADC polls.
Tribal communities account for nearly one-third of Tripura’s 4.2 million population and remain a decisive factor in the state’s politics.
