Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024: As many as six BJP candidates, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, are set to be elected unopposed to the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly as no other candidate has filed nomination from their assembly seats on the last day of filing papers on Wednesday.
As per the Election Commission data, as of 9:00 pm Wednesday, As of 9:00 pm on Wednesday, the last day for filing nominations for the April 19 Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections, only BJP candidates submitted nomination papers in five out of the 60 constituencies in the state.
“Single nomination paper has been filed in five assembly constituencies. We hope that a few more (seats) will be added by the last day of withdrawal,” Khandu told news agnecy PTI over the phone.
Candidates to win unopposed
In addition to Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu's constituency of Mukto, where he is expected to win uncontested for the fourth time, four other candidates from different constituencies are also poised to secure victory without facing any opposition.
These include Jikke Tako from Tali, Nyato Dukom from Taliha, Ratu Techi from Sagalee, and Mutchu Mithi from Roing. These candidates, representing the Congress party, are set to be elected unopposed as other nominees withdrew their candidatures on Wednesday.
BJP fields candidates on all 60 seats
The BJP has put forth candidates for all 60 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, while the opposition Congress has nominated candidates for 34 seats and the National People’s Party has put forward candidates for 29 seats. Additionally, the NCP and the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA) have nominated 17 and two candidates respectively for the upcoming assembly polls.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP secured victory in 41 seats, and later, seven MLAs from other parties joined the BJP. Moreover, the BJP also clinched both Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.
The BJP formed its first elected government in Arunachal Pradesh in 2019, despite Chief Minister Khandu initially forming a BJP government in 2016 following his departure from the Congress along with several MLAs, forming the People’s Party of Arunachal, which subsequently allied with the BJP.
An official said, “A total of 197 candidates have filed papers for the 60 assembly constituencies. Five BJP nominees, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, may be elected unopposed as no other candidates filed nominations from their seat.” After scrutiny of nomination papers on Thursday, the fate of the five BJP candidates would be clear, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu said.
Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections
The Election Commission of India issued a notification for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, in the first phase on April 19. The state election office has issued separate gazette notifications for holding elections to 60 assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state.
The last date for filing nomination papers is March 27 and scrutiny of papers would be done on March 28. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 30. The term of the present state assembly is ending on June 2.
Fifteen candidates will also try their luck for the two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on Thursday and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 30. The counting of votes for the Assembly polls will take place on June 2, while the Lok Sabha election results will be declared on June 4.
There are a total of 8,86,848 electorates in the state including, 4,49,050 female voters, 5,740 service voters and five third-gender voters. The state has a total of 2,226 polling booths out of which 156 would be managed entirely by women, while 49 would be managed by youth and three especially by persons with disabilities (PWDs). Altogether 480 polling booths are under shadow areas in the state, while 588 booths have been identified as critical and 443 as vulnerable.
(With PTI inputs)
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