BJP, Tipra Motha hold fresh talks on grassroots coordination ahead of village polls

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 20, 2026

Ahead of the September 28 village committee elections in Tripura, senior leaders of the BJP and its alliance partner Tipra Motha held another round of discussions at the state guesthouse on Saturday, focusing on joint campaigning and coordination at the grassroots level.

The meeting comes at a time when the alliance is seeking to ensure that the understanding reached between the two parties at the leadership level is translated into effective coordination among workers across the constituencies.

Power and Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath, who chaired the meeting, said the two parties discussed the proposed joint campaign of the NDA for the village committee elections.

“The NDA alliance is in place. We discussed where joint meetings will be held for the village elections. Special emphasis will be given to courtyard meetings, market meetings and household-level meetings,” Nath said after the meeting.

According to Nath, organisational meetings would be held in different parts of the state, with party workers and legislators from the respective areas taking part. The meetings would focus on the responsibilities of workers during the election process and the issues they need to avoid, he said.

“Preparations for the by-election and the elections that will follow were also discussed. Along with this, there was discussion on strengthening and restructuring the organisation,” Nath said.

The discussions are significant in the backdrop of the electoral arithmetic of the village committee polls. Of the 4,597 seats across 587 village committees, 1,630 seats have gone uncontested. Tipra Motha candidates have secured 1,548 of these seats without a contest, while BJP candidates have won 82.

The remaining 2,967 seats will see electoral contests, making grassroots coordination between the two alliance partners particularly important.

After the withdrawal of nominations, Tipra Motha has 2,731 candidates in the fray and the BJP has 1,853. The CPI(M) has fielded 2,151 candidates, Congress 425 and IPFT 356. Independents and candidates belonging to other parties account for another 753.

The candidate figures do not correspond directly to the number of seats because several candidates are contesting the same seat.

The alliance's organisational challenge stems partly from the fact that BJP and Tipra Motha have developed their political bases independently over the years. Their relative organisational strength also differs across areas. While Tipra Motha has a substantial grassroots presence in several tribal areas, the BJP has an established organisational network in a number of other parts of the ADC region.

The village committee elections will therefore provide a test of how far the alliance arrangement can be implemented at the local level, particularly in areas where the two parties had earlier been political rivals.

The contested seats will also see the Opposition parties attempting to retain or expand their support base. The CPI(M)'s 2,151 candidates constitute the largest Opposition presence among the parties listed after the withdrawal process. Congress and other parties are also contesting seats across the election area.

The BJP-Tipra Motha meeting was attended by Assembly Speaker Rampada Jamatia, ADC Chief Executive Member Runiel Debbarma, legislators Ranjit Debbarma, C.K. Jamatia and Bipin Debbarma, minister Brishaketu Debbarma and other senior leaders of the two parties.

The two parties have been working to consolidate their alliance ahead of the village committee polls. While the allocation of seats and the broader political understanding are matters for the leadership, the immediate challenge is to ensure coordination among local leaders and workers during the campaign.

The focus on courtyard, market and household meetings also indicates an attempt to take the alliance campaign beyond large public rallies and reach voters through smaller local-level interactions.

With polling scheduled for September 28, the window for resolving local organisational issues is narrowing. The 1,630 uncontested seats have already been settled, but the outcome in the remaining 2,967 contested seats will depend on the ability of political parties to mobilise their workers and voters.

For the BJP and Tipra Motha, Saturday's meeting was therefore not merely another organisational exercise. It was an effort to address the gap, where it exists, between the alliance announced by the leadership and its functioning at the grassroots level before polling day.

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