The Supreme Court has directed the Tripura State Election Commission (TSEC) to conduct the long-pending elections to village committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in a single phase on September 27, 2026.
The Vacation Bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi passed the order on Tuesday on a writ petition filed by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma, who sought directions for the immediate conduct of overdue village committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (Establishment of Village Committee) Act, 1994.
The petition alleged that the authorities had failed to hold elections despite the expiry of the tenure of the village committees and despite repeated assurances before the courts regarding the completion of the electoral process.
At the outset, the Court was informed that pursuant to its earlier directions, the state government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) had placed on record details regarding security arrangements required for the conduct of the polls. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that TSEC had filed an affidavit on June 12 proposing both multi-phase and single-phase election schedules along with the corresponding security requirements.
The matter had earlier come up before the Court when the possibility of conducting elections in a staggered manner was discussed. At that stage, the Election Commission had indicated through an affidavit that the elections would be conducted in June. However, the proposed schedule could not be implemented due to security concerns, following which the Court directed the state government and the TSEC to furnish affidavits detailing the security arrangements necessary for holding the elections.
Appearing for TSEC, Attorney General R Venkataramani submitted that although the Court had earlier considered the possibility of conducting the polls in multiple phases, a single-phase election would be more practical in view of the monsoon season. He informed the Bench that if the election was conducted in one phase, local security arrangements would be sufficient and there would be no requirement for additional Central security forces.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state of Tripura, supported the proposal and submitted that there had been incidents of violence in the recent past and that the situation was expected to stabilise further by September.
The Court noted that all parties were broadly ad idem on the need for expeditious conduct of the elections. While the petitioner and Respondent No. 5 (administrator controlling the village committees) suggested that the elections should be conducted in August instead of September owing to the prolonged delay, the Bench observed that the difference related only to the proposed date and not to the manner of conducting the elections.
Taking note of the consensus among the parties and the proposal submitted by the ECI, the Court directed that the elections be conducted in accordance with the schedule proposed by TSEC. It expressed the expectation that all authorities concerned would strictly adhere to the election timetable and complete the entire electoral process within the stipulated period. The Court categorically stated that no further extension would be granted and posted the matter for further consideration on October 9.
The petition pointed out that the last village committee elections were held in 2016 and that the tenure of the committees expired on March 7, 2021. Under Section 4 of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (Establishment of Village Committee) Act, 1994, elections were required to be held before the expiry of the five-year term of the committees.
The petitioner relied upon earlier proceedings before the Tripura High Court, where the authorities had assured the Court that elections would be conducted within a time-bound framework. The High Court had observed that village committees performed significant statutory functions relating to sanitation, maintenance of village infrastructure, implementation of welfare schemes and management of educational facilities.
According to the petition, despite observations made by the High Court in July 2022 that the elections were overdue and should be completed expeditiously, no electoral exercise was undertaken. It was further submitted that during contempt proceedings initiated in May 2024, the State Election Commission had proposed completion of the elections by December 2024, but no concrete steps were subsequently taken.
The petition further contended that the continued absence of elected village committees had adversely affected developmental activities in the TTAADC areas. It was argued that the lack of elected local bodies had resulted in delays in the release of funds for healthcare, sanitation and other welfare programmes, thereby depriving indigenous tribal communities and rural residents of benefits available under various government schemes and welfare legislation.
The petitioner also alleged violation of the constitutional mandate contained in Articles 243K, 243ZA and 324 of the Constitution, which emphasise the timely conduct of elections to democratic institutions and local self-government bodies.
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