BJP urges ECI to defer SIR in Tripura over September 28 Village Committee polls
Agartala, Sep 3 (IANS) The ruling BJP in Tripura has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to defer the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in view of the September 28 Village Committee elections in the state’s tribal areas.
A BJP delegation, led by Rajya Sabha member Rajib Bhattacharjee, submitted a letter addressed to the ECI to state election officials, requesting the deferment of the SIR exercise.
Later, Bhattacharjee, the former state BJP President, said that during the Village Committee elections within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), most officials, Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties and others would remain busy with the electoral process.
“The SIR exercise can be undertaken after the Village Committee elections are over. The state election officials would forward our letter to the ECI for taking the next course of action,” he told the media.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Brijesh Panday had earlier said that the SIR of electoral rolls for all 60 Assembly constituencies in Tripura is scheduled to commence from September 5 and conclude with the final publication of the electoral rolls on December 23. The draft electoral rolls will be published on October 21, 2026.
Tripura currently has 28.97 lakh electors, of whom 14.52 lakh are male and 14.45 lakh are female. The state has 3,356 polling stations.
During the SIR exercise, BLOs shall undertake house-to-house visits from September 15 to October 14 to distribute pre-filled Enumeration Forms to existing electors. “BLOs will assist electors in completing the forms correctly and collect the duly filled-in forms. Each BLO shall make three visits to every household,” the CEO said.
The qualifying date for the SIR in Tripura is October 1. The ECI has already conducted training programmes for BLOs to carry out the entire process smoothly and ensure error-free electoral rolls, the CEO said.
Meanwhile, elections to 4,597 seats under 2,634 constituencies in 587 Village Committees — equivalent to Gram Panchayats in the non-TTAADC areas — will be held within the TTAADC areas on September 28 after a gap of 10 years.
The tribal autonomous council administers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s total geographical area of 10,491 square km and is home to more than 12.16 lakh people, of whom nearly 84 per cent belong to indigenous tribal communities.
The TTAADC is considered the second most important constitutional and political body in Tripura after the 60-member state Legislative Assembly.
–IANS
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