63 candidates elected uncontested ahead of panchayat, municipal polls in Arunachal

Itanagar, Nov 30 (PTI) Sixty-three candidates have already been elected unopposed ahead of the December 15 municipal and panchayat elections in Arunachal Pradesh, the State Election Commission said here on Sunday.

The ruling BJP won 58 zila parishad constituencies unopposed, along with one candidate from the National Peoples’ Party (NPP), the poll body said in a statement.

Four BJP candidates were also elected unopposed for the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC), the SEC said.

The last date for withdrawing nominations was Saturday.

The SEC said that altogether 440 candidates will contest for 186 zilla parishad seats, along with 39 for 16 IMC wards, and 21 for eight Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) wards.

Altogether, 600 nominations were filed for 245 zilla parishad constituencies, 10,550 for 8,182 gram panchayat seats, 101 for 20 IMC wards, and 28 for eight PMC wards by the November 24 deadline. Scrutiny of papers was completed on November 26, the SEC said.

A total of 13 gram panchayat constituencies received no nominations, while all such documents in 14 GP seats were rejected during scrutiny.

Polling in the Dumba Singpho gram panchayat constituency has been countermanded due to the death of a candidate whose nomination was found valid.

These are provisional figures, and the vacant seats will be filled later through by-elections.

Arunachal Pradesh will conduct the 12th elections to panchayati raj institutions and the third municipal polls for Itanagar and Pasighat simultaneously on December 15.

Altogether 8,31,648 voters, including 7,59,210 for panchayat seats and 72,438 for municipal elections, are eligible to cast their ballots across 2,171 polling stations for rural polls, 67 for IMC, and 12 for PMC.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for municipal polls, while ballot boxes will be deployed for panchayat elections.

Counting of votes will be held on December 20. PTI UPL BDC