Arunachal assembly polls: Votes to be counted on Sunday, 133 candidates wait anxiously

Itanagar: The fate of 133 candidates sealed in EVMs will be decided on Sunday when votes polled in elections to 50 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh will be counted, officials said.

The ruling BJP has already won 10 seats unopposed in the 60-member assembly. The saffron party had won 41 seats in 2019.

The counting of votes will begin at 6 am on Sunday amid tight security and the final results are expected to be out by noon, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain said.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were held simultaneously in Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase on April 19.

An estimated 82.71 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the assembly polls while the turnout for the two Lok Sabha seats in the state was recorded at 77.51 per cent.

Counting of votes polled in 50 assembly seats would be held at 24 centers that would be managed by 2,000 officials, the CEO said.

“Three-tier security arrangements have been made in all counting centres. All preparations for counting, including the final round of training for officials, have been completed,” he said.

“Media centers will be set up in all counting centers to provide real-time updates,” Sain said.

The CEO said he, along with the chief secretary and the director general of police, had recently convened a coordination meeting with all the district electoral officers (DEOs) and superintendents of police (SPs) to review the law and order situation and the SPs were asked to ensure peaceful counting.

“The DEOs have been instructed to ensure that counting agents of various political parties enter the centres without cellphones,” Sain said.

Counting of votes for the two Lok Sabha seats in the state would be conducted on June 4 from 8 am at 25 centres.

Altogether 14 candidates contested in the parliamentary elections in the state.

In the Arunachal West parliamentary seat, eight candidates, including Union minister Kiren Rijiju and state Congress president Nabam Tuki, contested the elections. Sitting BJP MP Tapir Gao and state Congress vice-president Bosiram Siram are among the six candidates who contested from Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP had won both the Lok Sabha seats and 41 assembly constituencies in the 2019 polls. The JD (U) had won seven assembly seats, the NPP five, Congress four and the PPA one. Two Independent candidates had also emerged victorious.