BJP and Tipra Motha have finalised their seat-sharing strategy for Tripura Village Committee elections, with candidates expected to withdraw nominations from overlapping seats as NDA allies prepare for a united contest and target a decisive victory on September 28.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Tipra Motha Party have moved closer to a fully coordinated electoral contest in Tripura after senior leaders of both parties held another round of discussions on Thursday to finalise their seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Village Committee (VC) elections.
The elections are scheduled to be held on September 28, and leaders from both alliance partners said that a clearer picture of the final arrangement would be presented before the public by Friday. In constituencies where candidates from both BJP and Tipra Motha have already submitted nomination papers, one of the contestants is expected to withdraw to ensure that the alliance fields a single candidate.
The leaders explained that the overlapping nominations were largely the result of limited time available for finalising the seat-sharing formula. Since the arrangement could not be concluded earlier, candidates from both parties proceeded with filing their nomination papers. At the same time, the alliance partners acknowledged that the message regarding their electoral coordination had not reached the grassroots level in several areas.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that the situation was now being addressed through communication between state-level and local-level leaders.
“By this time, even the local level leaders are aware of what the state leadership has planned. Accordingly, either of the candidates shall withdraw their nomination papers in the seats where due to the confusion, contestants of both the parties have filed nomination papers,” Nath said.
According to Nath, the BJP and Tipra Motha have already reached an understanding in around 80 percent of the cases. He said the remaining differences would also be resolved shortly.
“In 80 percent of cases both the parties have reached consensus. In the remaining 20 percent cases, all disputes shall be resolved,” Nath said.
Nath described the forthcoming Village Committee elections as critical for both the alliance and the political landscape in the state, particularly because of the large number of seats involved. He stressed that detailed discussions were necessary before finalising the distribution of seats between the two parties.
“Rural body elections are very critical. Threadbare discussions are required to finalise something as the number of seats is on the higher side,” Nath said.
The BJP leader also said the seat-sharing formula had been prepared after considering the results of the 2026 general elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). According to him, the electoral performance of the two parties in the ADC elections formed an important basis for determining the distribution of seats between the alliance partners.
“It should be noted here that whatever formula has been chalked out to distribute seats between two ally parties, the outcome of the TTAADC elections was considered as a basis for that,” Nath added.
Senior Tipra Motha leader and MLA Ranjit Debbarma also said that the alliance would ensure that only one candidate contests from seats where both parties had initially filed nominations. He said discussions with leaders at the block level were already underway to resolve the remaining issues.
“All the disputes shall be sorted out by tomorrow. After having telephonic conversations with our leaders at the block level, we will sort this out by tomorrow,” Debbarma said.
Asked about the exact number of seats allocated to each party, Debbarma indicated that the figures could still undergo changes as consultations with local leaders continue. However, he made it clear that the objective was to avoid a direct contest between the two alliance partners.
“We have already received reports from the local leaders and blocks and based on that we shall act,” he said.
BJP Tripura Pradesh President Abhishek Debroy, who was also present during the meeting, expressed confidence in the alliance’s prospects in the Village Committee elections. He said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was confident of securing a landslide victory in the upcoming polls.
The discussions were primarily held between the BJP and Tipra Motha. The Indigenous Progressive Front of Tripura (IPFT), another constituent of the NDA in the state, did not attend the meeting.
Debroy, however, played down the absence of IPFT representatives, saying the issue did not indicate any disagreement within the alliance. He said the terms on which the elections would be contested had already been settled with IPFT.
“It is not a bigger issue. IPFT is an integral part of the NDA. No leader from IPFT attended the meeting because we have already sorted out on what terms the elections would be fought,” Debroy said.
The BJP president also rejected allegations from the opposition that candidates of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress were facing threats or obstruction while filing nominations. He claimed that opposition parties were attempting to create a political narrative to gain public sympathy.
“Nowhere in the state, the CPIM candidates are being obstructed. They are trying to create a false narrative to attract public sympathy. The public will never buy their false propaganda,” Debroy said.
On the previous differences between BJP and Tipra Motha ahead of the TTAADC elections earlier this year, Debroy said both parties remained independent political organisations and were entitled to determine their own electoral strategies.
He said the two parties had decided to contest the ADC elections independently at that time, while their current decision was to work together in the Village Committee elections.
“Both BJP and Tipra Motha are independent political parties and leaders of both the parties have every right to decide on which terms and how elections would be fought,” Debroy said.
He added that the BJP’s central leadership had now decided that the two parties should move forward together.
Meanwhile, Ratan Lal Nath characterised the earlier distance between the BJP and Tipra Motha during the 2026 electoral period as an electoral strategy rather than a permanent political separation. He pointed out that the two parties had remained allies since 2024 and were jointly running the state government.
| Also Read: CPI(M) leader claims BJP-Tipra Motha workers divided over ADC alliance |
“BJP and Tipra Motha have been allies since 2024. We are running the government together. What happened in 2026 was a mere electoral tactic; that’s it,” Nath said.
With the nomination process having created overlapping candidates in several constituencies, the immediate task for the alliance is to ensure that candidates withdraw from the relevant seats before the final contest. Leaders from both parties are expected to coordinate with their respective block-level organisations to complete the process.
| Also Read: BJP, TIPRA Motha, IPFT Forge Grassroots Alliance Ahead of VC Polls |
The latest discussions indicate a renewed effort by BJP and Tipra Motha to consolidate their electoral strength at the grassroots level ahead of the September 28 Village Committee elections. With both parties aiming to contest as allies under the NDA banner, the final withdrawal of overlapping nominations is expected to provide a clearer picture of the alliance’s seat-sharing arrangement and its electoral strategy across Tripura.
