E-Paper
Arunachal Pradesh to hold PRI and municipal elections on December 15
Scrutiny scheduled for Nov 26, candidates can withdraw their papers till Nov 29. Counting of votes will take place on Dec 20, and entire poll process expected to conclude by Dec 23
Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday announced the schedule for the 12th General Elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the third municipal elections in Itanagar and Pasighat, with polling to be held in a single phase on December 15.
According to the SEC, the notification will be issued on Monday, marking the start of nominations. Scrutiny is scheduled for November 26, while candidates can withdraw their papers till November 29. Counting of votes will take place on December 20, and the entire poll process is expected to conclude by December 23.
This will be the 12th local bodies election for PRIs since the NEFA Panchayat Regulation of 1967 and the APPR Act of 1997, and the third municipal poll for Itanagar and Pasighat.
The elections will span 27 Zilla Parishads with 245 constituencies, 2,103 Gram Panchayats comprising 8,181 Gram Panchayat seats, the Itanagar Municipal Corporation with 20 wards, and the Pasighat Municipal Council with 8 wards.
Arunachal Pradesh has an electorate of 8,31,648, including 7,59,210 Panchayat voters and 72,438 municipal voters. The SEC noted that female voters outnumber males in the Panchayat rolls, with 1,123 women per 1,000 men. Upper Subansiri has the largest Panchayat electorate at 58,764, while Lower Dibang Valley has the lowest at 3,854. In the municipal segment, Itanagar Ward 19 has the highest voter count at 5,106, while Pasighat Ward 6 has the lowest at 812.
For polling, 2,171 stations have been earmarked for the Panchayat elections and 79 for the municipal polls — 67 in Itanagar and 12 in Pasighat. While ballot boxes will be used for PRI elections, EVMs will be deployed for municipal voting.
More than 40,000 personnel, including 15,000 polling staff, will be engaged in the exercise. District-level master trainers have already undergone training in Itanagar and will oversee training activities in their respective districts.
To ensure smooth and secure polls, the SEC will deploy 29 General Election Observers — one for each district and two for the municipal bodies. Security arrangements have been tightened, especially in Tirap, Changlang and Longding, identified as sensitive zones.
With the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into immediate effect.
Appealing for cooperation, the Commission urged the State Government, political parties, candidates and their agents to support efforts to ensure “free, fair and fearless elections” and strengthen the grassroots democratic framework envisioned under the Panchayati Raj system.
