Vote counting underway for Arunachal panchayat and civic polls amid tight security

Counting of votes for the panchayat and civic body elections in Arunachal Pradesh began on Saturday, December 20 morning amid elaborate security arrangements across the state, officials said.

According to State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Taru Talo, the counting process commenced at 8 am at 45 designated centres spread across 27 districts. Adequate security and administrative measures have been put in place to ensure a smooth and transparent counting process, he added.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being used for counting votes in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) and Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) elections, while ballot papers are being counted for the panchayat polls.

In the panchayat elections, counting is underway for 186 Zilla Parishad Member (ZPM) seats out of a total of 245. Of these, 59 candidates have already been declared elected unopposed. In the Gram Panchayat (GP) category, as many as 6,227 candidates were elected unopposed, while voting was held for the remaining 1,947 seats.

The SEC secretary said elections for 16 wards of the IMC and eight wards of the PMC were conducted on December 15. Notably, four BJP candidates had been elected unopposed in the Itanagar civic body polls.

Talo stated that the panchayat elections across the state were conducted peacefully, with no major incidents reported, attributing the smooth process to effective coordination between election authorities and security agencies.

The panchayat polls recorded a robust voter turnout of nearly 75 per cent across Arunachal Pradesh. In the urban local body elections, voter participation stood at 51.39 per cent in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and 60.95 per cent in the Pasighat Municipal Council.