Pouring water in all speculations regarding the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections in, Governor of Tripura Ramesh Bais has on Tuesday extended the tenure of administrator GK Rao for six more months. Meanwhile, State unit of CPI-M called the decision ‘undemocratic’.
A notification in this regard has been also issued. The notification cited the Coronavirus pandemic as the reason behind the delay in holding the TTAADC elections and said that the tenure had been extended as the general elections could not be conducted due to the Covid 19 pandemic situation.
“Now, therefore I, Shri Ramesh Bais, Governor of Tripura, in the exercise of my powers as provided in the sub-paragraph 2 of paragraph 16 read with paragraph 20BB of the sixth schedule of the constitution of India, hereby direct that all functions and powers vested in and exercisable by the District Council are assumed by me and I also declare that these functions and powers exercisable by Shri GK Rao on my behalf for a further period of not exceeding 6 (six) months unless terminated earlier or extended further w.e.f 18.11.2020. Shri GK Rao, shall be designated as Administrator, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council”, the notification reads.
| Also Read : Tripura Police get new chief after 9 months |
CPI-M Tripura unit hit out at the government for extending the Governor’s rule in the TTAADC areas and dubbed the move as “undemocratic”. Criticizing the move, the state’s biggest opposition party said, while elections are being conducted all throughout the country there is no point to postpone the polls to TTAADC.
Referring to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the release added, the polls to BTC have been declared at neighboring Assam while, the ruling alliance in Tripura is preventing the polls. This is against the democratic norms, CPI-M said.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has deferred polls to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) till February 27, next year. According to a government press release, the preparation of the Urban Development department has been disrupted following the COVID19 pandemic.
