TTAADC polls pass off peacefully

Elections to the 30-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) passed off peacefully with over 80 per cent votes cast.
"The election was incident-free and roughly about 80 per cent voters cast their votes which ended at 5 PM", Election Commissioner for district council S K Rakesh said here.
A total of 177 candidates were in fray across 28 constituencies and over 13,000 security personnel were deployed during the polls of which 6,900 were from the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), 4,000 civil police and 21 companies of central paramilitary forces including the CRPF and the BSF.
All opposition parties including the Congress, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), the BJP and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) contested the elections.

A total of 7,58,554 electors, including 3,75,117 women, were eligible to cast their franchise.
Of the 30 seats, 28 were filled through direct election and two members were nominated by the Governor on the advice of the state government.

For the first time EVMs were introduced in the tribal council elections.
The TTAADC came into being in January 1982 under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and was given more autonomy under the Sixth Schedule in August 1984 to safeguard political, economic and cultural interests of tribals.
The tribals constitute one third of the state's 37 lakh population and the tribal council covers two-thirds of the state's territory of 10,491.69 sq km.

A major part of land under TTAADC is covered by hilly forest.
Secretary of the state unit of ruling CPI-M, Bijan Dhar congratulated the voters and state election commission for the peaceful vote.