arunachal-to-hold-simultaneous-panchayat-civic-polls-on-dec-15

Arunachal Pradesh will hold simultaneous panchayat and municipal elections on December 15, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Saturday. Over 8.3 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, with counting scheduled for December 20.

 

State Election Commissioner Rinchin Tashi said the poll notification will be issued on November 17, while the last date for filing nominations is November 24. Scrutiny of papers will be conducted on November 26, and the final date for withdrawal of nominations is November 29.

 

This will mark the 12th general election for panchayat bodies under the NEFA Panchayat Regulation, 1967, and the third municipal election for the state’s two civic bodies, Itanagar and Pasighat. Arunachal currently has 27 zilla parishads with 245 constituencies and 2,103 gram panchayats comprising 8,181 constituencies. The Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) has 20 wards, while the Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) has eight.

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A total of 8,31,648 voters are eligible, 7,59,210 for panchayats and 72,438 for municipal elections. Women voters outnumber men in the panchayat electorate. Upper Subansiri district has the highest number of panchayat voters at 58,764, while Dibang Valley has the lowest at 3,854. In municipal polls, Itanagar’s ward 19 has 5,106 voters, the highest, and Pasighat’s ward 6 the lowest at 812.

 

The SEC will establish 2,171 polling stations for panchayats, 67 for IMC, and 12 for PMC. Municipal elections will use EVMs, while panchayats will vote via ballot boxes. Over 40,000 personnel, including 15,000 polling staffers, will be deployed. The commission will appoint 29 general observers, one per district and for each municipal body.

 

Special security arrangements will be in place for sensitive districts such as Tirap, Changlang, and Longding. With the poll schedule announced, the Model Code of Conduct is now in force, and Tashi urged political parties and stakeholders to ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections.