Agartala, March 2 (TIWN): The much awaited elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) will be held on April 4, officials announced here on Tuesday.

Tripura State Election Commissioner M. L. Dey said that the polling to the 28-member TTAADC would be held on April 4 and counting of votes would be done on April 8.  According to Dey, in all 8,65,041 voters including 4,28,490 females are eligible to cast their votes in the TTAADC, which has a jurisdiction of over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area and home to over 12,16,000 people, which has 90 per cent population as tribals.

The five-year tenure of the TTAADC, considered as mini-state Assembly in terms of political significance, expired on May 17 last year and the BJP-led state government promulgated the Governor's rule by appointing a retired IAS officer as Administrator next day for a period of six months and then extending the term for another six months on November 17. 

After huge political controversies for the postponement of the elections, the Tripura High Court division bench of Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Satya Gopal Chattopadhyay following a Public Interest Litigation on January 12 has asked the state government and the election authority to hold the election to the TTAADC at the earliest.  In a significant political development on February 20, antagonising the ruling BJP, its junior ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) forged an alliance with other smaller tribal based parties to fight the upcoming polls to the tribal autonomous body.