Agartala, May 14 (IANS): Election to the three-tier Gram Panchayats in Tripura will be held in the last week of July and the necessary preparations have started, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Saradindu Chaudhuri said on Tuesday.

Chaudhuri said that before holding the elections to Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads the final electoral rolls with the qualifying date of voters as of January 1, 2024, would be published on June 24.

“We would submit a proposal to the state government for holding the three-tier Gram Panchayat elections in the last week of July. The five-year term of the three-tier Gram Panchayats would end in two-three months,” the SEC told IANS.

With 33 per cent reservation of seats for women, there are 6111 seats in 606 Gram Panchayats, 419 seats in 35 Panchayat Samitis and 116 seats in 8 Zilla Parishads.

To a question about holding elections in 587 Village Committees (equivalent to Gram Panchayats) in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), Chaudhuri said that there is a case pending in the Tripura High Court about the Village Committees.

“We have learnt that the High Court would likely give a verdict about the pending case on Village Committees soon. After the High Court order, we would take necessary steps to hold the election in the Village Committees in TTAADC areas,” the SEC said.

In the last Panchayat elections held on July 27, 2019, the ruling BJP had won more than 95 per cent of the seats of which 86 per cent were unopposed, terming the entire election process as a ‘farce’ by the opposition CPI-M and the Congress.