AGARTALA, Nov 18 - The Tripura Government has deferred elections to the civic bodies, which were scheduled for next month, till February 27 next year, official sources confirmed here today.
Preparations for conducting elections to the civic bodies � the Agartala Municipal Corporation, municipalities and nagar panchayats � have suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an official release stated. In view of the present situation, the elections to the civic bodies have been postponed till February 27, the release added.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has already announced the schedule for special revision of the electoral rolls in the State. As per the schedule, the final electoral rolls will be published on January 15 next year.
Sources said that the Government wants to conduct the civic elections on the basis of the revised electoral rolls. This could be another reason as to why the civic elections had been postponed till next year. Once the revised voters lists are out, the State election machinery will prepare the ward-wise electoral rolls.
The Government is also likely to appoint administrators for all the civic bodies, including the AMC, as a stopgap arrangement.
Earlier, the State Government had extended the Governor�s Rule in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) by another six months.
Meanwhile, the Opposition CPI(M) has lodged a protest against the extension of the Governor�s Rule in the TTAADC. In a press release, the State party secretariat termed the Governor�s decision as undemocratic and autocratic.
Assembly elections in Bihar have been completed successfully amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the Assam Government, too, has declared election to the Bodoland Territorial Council in December, it said.
�If the Bodoland Territorial Council�s election can take place in December, why cannot the same thing happen in the TTAADC? The TTAADC must be ruled by elected members as it is a Constitutional body�, it said.
While demanding immediate elections to the State�s tribal council, the CPI (M) also put a question mark on the role of the Governor. �It appears that the Governor is acting at the behest of the BJP leadership,� the party alleged.
