BJP fields candidates in all seats in ADC elections as ally rules out alliance

A Day after Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma announced that his party would not enter into any alliance for the upcoming elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), the BJP on Tuesday declared its list of candidates.

Polling for the politically significant 30-member TTAADC is scheduled for April 12, with counting of votes set for April 17.

The tribal autonomous council, regarded as the second most important constitutional body in the state after the Tripura Assembly, comprises 28 elected members and two nominated by the state government.

Announcing the candidates, Tripura BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee said the party would contest all 28 seats.

“BJP currently has nine members in the TTAADC. Out of these, seven have been renominated to contest the polls. Several senior tribal leaders of the party, including state General Secretary Bipin Debbarma, will also be in the fray,” Bhattacharjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, told the media.

He added that if voted to power in the TTAADC, the BJP would ensure effective and transparent administration aimed at the all-round development of the tribal population, which constitutes nearly one-third of Tripura’s total population of about 4.2 million.

This makes the upcoming council elections a crucial political contest in the state.

Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy and several other BJP leaders were present in the media briefing.

Just before the announcement of the BJP’s candidates, two important leaders of the TMP, Ananta Debbarma and Swadagar Kalai, joined the BJP, and the party has fielded them in the elections.

Meanwhile, TMP founder Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma on Monday firmly ruled out any alliance with the BJP for the TTAADC elections.

In a video message from New Delhi, Debbarma stated that there would be no electoral understanding without visible progress on the tripartite accord signed two years ago.

Stressing that “assurances without implementation” were unacceptable, he made it clear that commitments must translate into concrete action.

Leaders from both the BJP and TMP had earlier indicated that the central leadership of the parties held a series of meetings in New Delhi in recent days to work out a possible seat-sharing arrangement. TMP leader and MLA Ranjit Debbarma also said that the party chief was engaged in discussions with BJP leaders in the national capital to finalise the arrangement.

Positioning the April 12 polls as a decisive political battle, he described the elections as a mandate on identity, rights, and the future of the indigenous Tiprasa community.

Taking a firm and defiant stance, Debbarma asserted that he would neither compromise nor yield under pressure, reiterating that his commitment remained solely with the indigenous people.

He emphasised that electoral strength would be demonstrated through democratic means. He also called for unity among tribal voters across party lines -- including the BJP, the CPI(M), the Congress, and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) -- while urging them to avoid division and violence.

Framing the election as a collective democratic struggle, the TMP leader expressed confidence that grassroots support, particularly from economically weaker sections, would outweigh the influence of money and power.

In light of the latest political developments, the TTAADC elections are expected to witness a multi-cornered contest, with the TMP aiming to turn the polls into a referendum on indigenous rights.

While the IPFT remains an older ally of the BJP, the TMP, led by Debbarma, has been a junior partner in the ruling alliance in Tripura since March 2024. Both the TMP and the IPFT are tribal-based parties with significant influence in the state’s indigenous regions.

Following prolonged negotiations, the TMP -- then in the opposition — signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government on March 2, 2024, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Subsequently, the party, which has 13 MLAs, joined the BJP-led coalition government on March 7, 2024, adding a new dimension to the state’s political landscape. Two TMP MLAs -- Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma -- were inducted into the ministry headed by Chief Minister Manik Saha.

Since 2021, the Tipra Motha Party under Debbarma’s leadership has governed the strategically important 30-member TTAADC.

In the 2021 council elections, the BJP contested 11 seats and won nine, while a BJP-supported Independent candidate also secured victory but later joined the TMP.

The TMP, however, emerged as the dominant force by winning 18 seats and wresting control of the council from the CPI (M)-led Left Front. The council covers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12.16 lakh people, around 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous communities.

Ahead of the upcoming polls, major political parties -- including the BJP, its allies IPFT and TMP, as well as opposition parties such as the CPI(M) and the Congress -- have intensified efforts to consolidate support among tribal voters.

The Left parties and Congress have already announced their candidates for all 28 seats.