Arunachal Pradesh local body (Panchayat & Municipal) elections voting today

ITANAGAR: The stage is set for voting for simultaneous Panchayat & Municipal elections in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, with all arrangements being put in place.

Ballot papers for all the Panchayat Raj constituencies have been collected by the respective districts, while commissioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for Itanagar Municipal Corporation and Pasighat Municipality have also been completed, informed State Election Commission (SEC) sources.

State Election Commissioner HageKojeen said that of the total 2,259 polling stations in the State, voting would be held at 1,472 polling stations where 4,89,423 electors would exercise their franchise. While there are 25 ZilaParishads with 241 constituencies, there are 2,215 gram panchayats with 8,436 constituencies in the State. The Itanagar Municipal Corporation and the Pasighat Municipality has 20 and eight wards respectively.

The ruling BJP has already won 96 of the total 241 ZilaParishad Member (ZPM) posts unopposed, while there would be no election for the ZPM post at Vijoynagar in Changlang district as election has been deferred by the SEC keeping in view the law-and-order situation. The saffron party has also won uncontested 5,410 of the 8,291 Gram Panchayat Member posts and five Corporator seats in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation.

There will be no panchayat election in the entire Dibang Valley district as all the segments in both ZillaParishad and Gram Panchayat went unopposed, said the Election Commissioner adding that East Siang is the only district where polling would take place in all 120 polling stations.

As many as 110 Gram Panchayat segments in the State fell vacant due to various reasons. The SEC would take a final call on conducting bye-elections in those constituencies after the electoral process is over in the current phase of election, said Kojen.

The State government has declared holiday on December 22 to enable all electorates to exercise their right to franchise. All government and semi-government offices, banks and commercial establishments besides educational institutions and markets would remain closed.

To ensure smooth and peaceful polling, elaborate security arrangements have been made across the State. More than 8,000 security personnel, including nine companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), besides 7, 517 personnel of civil administration, police, Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) and Arunachal Pradesh Police Battalion (APPBn) have been deployed for the rural and civic polls, said a senior police officer.

The State police has identified 258 hypersensitive, 536 sensitive and 702 normal polling stations across the state after the declaration of uncontested seats. Each normal polling station would be guarded by two security personnel, while three personnel would be deployed in sensitive and four in hypersensitive booth, said IGP (Law & Order) ChukhuApa.

Meanwhile, Governor Brig (retd) Dr B.D. Mishra has appealed the voters to participate in the Panchayat and Municipal election and cast their votes on Tuesday. "PRIs working at the grassroots level, ensure the opportunity for people's participation and involvement in the formulation and implementation of development programmes," said the Governor.

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