Arunachal gears up for panchayat, civic polls with over 40,000 security personnel deployed

The stage is set for elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies in Itanagar and Pasighat as the State Election Commission (SEC) of Arunachal Pradesh has deployed over 40,000 personnel to ensure the smooth and peaceful conduct of polling scheduled for Monday.

State Election Commissioner Rinchin Tashi said polling will commence at 7 am and continue till 4 pm across designated polling stations. The election exercise has already seen a significant number of candidates elected unopposed, reflecting limited contests in several constituencies.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured 58 zilla parishad seats uncontested, while the National People’s Party (NPP) has won one such seat. Additionally, four BJP candidates have been elected unopposed to the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC). A total of 5,037 BJP candidates for gram panchayat seats have also been declared elected without contest.

Despite the large number of unopposed victories, electoral contests remain in several areas. Altogether, 440 candidates are contesting for 186 zilla parishad seats, 39 candidates are in the fray for 16 IMC wards, and 21 candidates are contesting for eight wards of the Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC).

The SEC noted that 13 gram panchayat constituencies received no nominations, while nominations in 14 constituencies were rejected during scrutiny. Polling for the Dumba Singpho gram panchayat seat has been countermanded following the death of a candidate.

A total of 8,31,648 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, including 7,59,210 voters for panchayat bodies and 72,438 voters for municipal elections. For the polls, 2,171 polling stations have been set up for panchayat elections, along with 67 polling stations for IMC and 12 for PMC.

Highlighting voter demographics, the SEC said female voters outnumber male voters in the panchayat elections. Upper Subansiri district has the highest number of panchayat voters at 58,764, while Dibang Valley has the lowest with 3,854 electors. In the municipal segment, Itanagar’s Ward 19 has the highest electorate at 5,106 voters, whereas Pasighat’s Ward 6 has the lowest with 812 voters.

To oversee the process, the commission has appointed 29 general observers, one for each district and the two municipal bodies. Special security measures have been put in place in the sensitive districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding.

While Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for municipal elections, ballot boxes will be deployed for panchayat polls. The counting of votes is scheduled for December 20, the SEC added.