Northeast Desk, 16th April: In preparation for the upcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, the first batch of 40 election officials, including police personnel, were airlifted to four remote polling stations in Kra Daadi district. An official confirmed that the officials, accompanied by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs), were transported to the polling stations located in the Pip-Sorang Circle, a remote area bordering China.
Operated by Skyone airways, an MI-172 chopper facilitated two sorties to airlift the polling teams on Monday. Toko Babu, officer on special duty (OSD) to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), stated that additional airlifting of polling teams to other remote stations would be conducted based on the requirements of respective district electoral officers (DEOs).
Following their airlift, the polling teams will be stationed at Tali, the ADC headquarters in the district, before embarking on a foot march to reach the Pip-Sorang circle. Notably, Tali assembly constituency, falling under the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat, witnessed BJP’s Jike Takku winning the seat uncontested.
Each polling team comprises an average of 10 individuals, including a presiding officer, two polling officers, one polling attendant, and security personnel. The four polling stations in the Pip-Sorang circle include Tedung, Pip-Sorang, Kharsang, and Korapu.
The remaining polling stations across the state, requiring foot marches, are scheduled to depart for their respective booths from the district headquarters on April 17. Arunachal Pradesh is set to witness simultaneous polls for two Lok Sabha seats and 50 assembly seats in the first phase on April 19.
With 60 assembly seats in total, BJP secured victory in 10 seats unopposed. A total of 8,92,694 voters, including 4,54,256 females, will determine the outcome of 143 candidates contending for the 50 assembly seats and 14 candidates vying for the two Lok Sabha seats.
Deployment of 11,130 polling officials and utilization of 6,874 EVMs have been arranged for the polling process, accompanied by the deployment of 80 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF) to maintain law and order. Counting of votes for the assembly elections is scheduled for June 2, while that for Lok Sabha polls will occur on June 4.
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