BJP Sweeps Itanagar Civic Body Polls; PPA Emerges Victorious in Pasighat

Itanagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged victorious in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) election by winning 14 out of 20 wards. The counting of votes for the recently commenced Panchayat and civic body polls in the state of Arunachal Pradesh started on Saturday morning with strict security and administration alertness.

The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) won the Pasighat Municipal Corporation by securing five of the total eight councilor seats, giving it a clear majority. The BJP won two seats, while one seat was won by an independent candidate. The winning PPA candidates are Tagom Padung, Mem Tamut, Oyon Pabin, Kamin Lego and Rahul Tamuk.

On the other hand, the ruling BJP won 58 zilla parishad constituencies uncontested unopposed. NPP emerged victorious in one seat. Four BJP candidates were also elected unopposed to the IMC.

It may be mentioned that, 440 candidates were in the fray for 186 zilla parishad seats, 39 for IMC wards, and 21 for eight wards of the Pasighat Municipal Council. Under the Gram Panchayat (GP) group, 6,227 candidates were elected unopposed, and now the counting for the remaining 1,947 seats has been initiated.

Reportedly, 24,604 voters exercised their franchise out of 47,877 electors, registering a turnout of 51.39 per cent. However, rural areas of the state recorded much higher participation. Panchayat polls witnessed a strong response with nearly 75 per cent voting across the state. The elections were also largely peaceful.

Repolling was held on December 18 in a few polling stations due to some disturbances. The polling stations that witnessed repolling are Nongkhon gram panchayat segment in Namsai district, Nisangjang/Besai gram panchayat in Bichom, multiple gram panchayat constituencies in Tirap and the Rotom polling station in Kamle.

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