BJP ahead in Arunachal panchayat elections as counting continues, dominates civic polls

Itanagar, Dec 20 (PTI) Ruling BJP was leading in the zila parishad elections in Arunachal Pradesh, having won 30 zila parishad member (ZPM) seats out of the 49 results declared so far, officials of the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Saturday.

According to results available from nine districts, the BJP won 30 ZPM seats, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with eight seats and the regional People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) with three seats, while eight seats were won by independent candidates, SEC secretary Taru Talo said.

Results for the remaining ZPM and gram panchayat seats are yet to be declared as counting is still underway and may continue late into the night. The final results will be available on Sunday, Talo said.

A voter turnout of nearly 75 per cent was recorded in the panchayat polls across 27 out of 28 districts of the state. Itanagar Capital Region (ICR district) has no panchayat since it has a ciciv body.

The counting process commenced at 8 am in 45 counting halls set up across 27 districts of the state, he said.

In the panchayat elections, counting is being held for 186 ZPM seats out of a total of 245, with 59 seats having been elected unopposed.

In the gram panchayat member (GPM) category, 6,227 out of 8,208 seats were elected unopposed, with voting held for the remaining 1,947 seats.

Talo added that candidates and their authorised election agents are being allowed inside the counting halls strictly as per laid-down guidelines, and video recording of the counting process is being carried out to ensure transparency.

The BJP won 58 ZPM seats unopposed, while one seat was won uncontested by a candidate from the National People’s Party (NPP), he said.

A total of 5,037 BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed in the GPM category, along with 1,190 candidates from other parties, including independents.

The secretary said 13 gram panchayat constituencies received no nominations, while all nominations in 14 gram panchayat constituencies were rejected during scrutiny.

Polling in the Dumba Singpho gram panchayat seat has been countermanded following the death of a candidate, he added.

Meanwhile, the BJP won 14 of the 20 wards in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) elections. The party also secured uncontested victories in four wards.

In the Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) elections, PPA candidates registered victories in wards 1 to 5 — Tagom Padung (Ward 1), Mem Tamut (Ward 2), Oyon Pabin (Ward 3), Kamin Lego (Ward 4) and Rahul Tamuk in Ward 5, respectively.

The BJP could secure only two wards, with Mary Gao winning from Ward 6 and Pema Dolma Moyong clinching Ward 7, the official said, adding that Ward 8 was won by independent candidate Oni Tamuk.

Four women were elected to the PMC.

The opposition Congress failed to open its account in both the Itanagar and Pasighat civic bodies. PTI UPL UPL MNB