Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh is set to go to the polls on Monday for elections to panchayati raj institutions and the civic bodies of Itanagar and Pasighat, with the State Election Commission deploying more than 40,000 personnel to oversee the exercise, officials said.
Polling will begin at 7 am and conclude at 4 pm, State Election Commissioner Rinchin Tashi said, adding that all arrangements have been put in place to ensure a smooth and peaceful voting process.
Several seats have already been decided without contest.
The ruling BJP has secured 58 zilla parishad seats unopposed, while the National People’s Party has won one such seat.
In the Itanagar Municipal Corporation, four BJP candidates were elected unopposed. In addition, 5,037 BJP candidates for gram panchayat seats have also been declared elected without a contest.
For the remaining seats, 440 candidates are contesting 186 zilla parishad constituencies.
In the municipal elections, 39 candidates are in the fray for 16 wards of the Itanagar Municipal Corporation, while 21 candidates are contesting eight wards of the Pasighat Municipal Council.
The State Election Commission said 13 gram panchayat constituencies received no nominations, while nominations in 14 other constituencies were rejected during scrutiny. Polling for the Dumba Singpho gram panchayat seat has been cancelled following the death of a candidate.
A total of 8,31,648 voters are eligible to cast their ballots, including 7,59,210 voters for the panchayat elections and 72,438 for the municipal polls.
The elections will be conducted across 2,171 polling stations for panchayat bodies, 67 for the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and 12 for the Pasighat Municipal Council.
Tashi said women voters outnumber men 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.
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In the municipal polls, Ward 19 of Itanagar has the highest electorate at 5,106 voters, while Pasighat’s Ward 6 has the lowest with 812 voters.
To ensure orderly polling, the commission has deployed over 40,000 personnel, including around 15,000 polling staff.
A total of 29 general observers have also been appointed, one for each district and the two municipal bodies.
Special security arrangements have been made in sensitive districts such as Tirap, Changlang and Longding.
Electronic voting machines will be used for municipal elections, while ballot papers will be used for panchayat polls. Counting of votes is scheduled for December 20.
