Guwahati: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partner, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), have finalised a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Village Committee (VC) elections in Tripura and will contest the polls jointly as partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The elections are scheduled to be held on September 28 across more than 4,000 seats.

A meeting between the BJP and TMP leadership began at around 7 pm on Sunday at a city hotel and continued until 3 am on Monday, with discussions centred on seat sharing and coordination for the elections.

Speaking after the meeting, senior BJP leader and Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath said both parties had concluded their discussions on seat allocation ahead of the September 28 polls.

Nath said BJP and Tipra Motha leaders had travelled to Delhi, where Chief Minister Manik Saha and Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the NDA alliance and the decision to contest the VC elections together.

He said that with nearly 4,597 VC seats up for contest, reaching a final arrangement required detailed discussions between the two parties. According to Nath, the seat-sharing exercise has now been completed.

“From today, we will start filing nominations,” Nath said, adding that senior leaders from both parties would oversee the process and that the detailed allocation would be made public later.

Tipra Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma also confirmed that the seat-sharing discussions had been completed and described the negotiations between the two parties as successful.

Tripura Transport Minister and cabinet spokesperson Sushanta Chowdhury said the BJP and Tipra Motha had reached a unanimous decision to jointly contest the elections as NDA partners.

He described the meeting as “very positive” and said the detailed seat-sharing formula would be formally announced by the leadership later on Monday.