Governor’s rule in Tripura tribal autonomous body after May 17
Agartala/Guwahati: After the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in Assam, the Governor’s rule would also be imposed in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) after May 17 as the polls have been postponed indefinitely due to the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of novel coronavirus, officials said on Wednesday.
The 30-member TTAADC is currently governed by the opposition CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and its five-year term would expire on May 17.
“Though there is a provision in the constitution to keep the existing elected executive body for one more year in an emergency situation, but we would not request the Governor or the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led government to do so,” the Chief Executive Member of the TTAADC Radhacharan Debbarma told IANS on Wednesday.
Tripura Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that as the elections could not be conducted in the present situations, the state government has decided to transfer the TTAADC’s authority to the Governor. The politically important TTAADC, which constituted under the sixth Schedule of the Constitution in June, 1985, has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km are, home to over 12,16,000 people, mostly tribal.
In Assam, on the recommendations of the state government, the State Election Commission recently put off the 40-member BTC polls for an indefinite period.
Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, who is the constitutional head of the Sixth Schedule areas like that of BTC, had also earlier suggested postponement of the council polls.
Mukhi on April 27 appointed Rajesh Prasad, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, as the administrator of the BTC following the promulgation of Governor’s Rule.
The politically important BTC, which started functioning in December 2003, comprises four districts of western Assam — Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri and is home to over 31,00,000 people, the majority of whom are tribal.