Northeast Desk, 29th May: The counting of votes for the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections will commence at 6 am on June 2, an official announced on Wednesday. Both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were conducted simultaneously in the state on April 19.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain stated that over 2,000 officials would be deployed for the vote counting processes on June 2 for the Assembly elections and June 4 for the Lok Sabha elections. “This time, we have decided to conduct the counting for all constituencies in a district simultaneously and aim to announce the results by noon,” Sain said. Media centres will be set up at all counting centres to provide updates on the counting process.
The counting of votes for 50 out of the 60 Assembly seats will take place in 24 centres across the state on June 2, while counting for the Lok Sabha seats will be conducted in 25 centres on June 4, as informed by Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already secured 10 seats in the 60-member assembly unopposed. The second round of training for officials involved in the vote counting concluded on Tuesday.
A robust three-tier security system has been arranged at all counting centres, comprising personnel from central paramilitary forces, state armed police, and state civil police, as per the CEO. “I have already convened a coordination meeting with all the district electoral officers (DEOs) and superintendents of police (SPs) to review the law and order situation, along with the chief secretary and director general of police. The DGP directed all SPs to ensure a peaceful counting process,” Sain added.
The DEOs have also been instructed to ensure that counting agents from various political parties enter the counting centres without cell phones. A total of 133 candidates contested the assembly seats, while 14 candidates vied for the two Lok Sabha seats.
In the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat, eight candidates, including Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju and state Congress president Nabam Tuki, contested the elections. For the Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat, sitting BJP MP Tapir Gao and state Congress vice-president Bosiram Siram were among the six candidates.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP had won both Lok Sabha seats and secured 41 out of 60 seats in the Assembly. The JD(U) had won seven seats, the NPP five, the Congress four, the PPA one, and Independent candidates two.