Arunachal Pradesh Elections 2024: State ready for Lok Sabha, Assembly polls amid rain threat

Arunachal Pradesh Elections 2024: With the weather likely to play spoilsport, Arunachal Pradesh is all set to vote on Friday to elect two Lok Sabha MPs and 50 MLAs. In the 60-member assembly, the BJP has already won 10 constituencies unopposed. In the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat, eight candidates are in the fray including Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju and state Congress president Nabam Tuki.

Sitting BJP MP Tapir Gao and state Congress vice-president Bosiram Siram are among six candidates who are contesting from Arunachal East.

All arrangements have been completed to conduct polling which will begin at 7 AM and continue at 5 PM.

The India Meteorological Centre (IMD) has forecast moderate to high rainfall in the northeastern state during the poll day.

“We have arranged temporary shelters with all basic facilities in the polling booths where people can wait if the weather is not conducive,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain said.

The Election Commission has also arranged special facilities for the 5,596 voters who are persons with disability (PwD), including transportation to polling booths and installation of ramps, the CEO said.

“Polling officials for remote booths have already reached their destinations,” Sain said.

There are 228 polling stations in the state out of the total 2,226, which could be reached only on foot. As many as 480 polling booths fall under shadow areas, while 588 booths have been identified as critical and 443 as vulnerable.

An estimated 8,92,694 voters including 4,54,256 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise and decide the electoral fate of 133 candidates in the assembly polls and 14 Lok Sabha poll contestants.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made to conduct peaceful polling in the state with deployment of 70 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF) including India Reserve Battalion and state police forces, the CEO said.

He added that since the announcement of the poll in the state, as many as 36 law and order incidents have been registered where one person died and another 33 were injured.

The BJP had fielded 60 candidates in all the assembly seats while the opposition Congress put up 19 nominees, National People's Party (NPP) 20, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 14 and the People's Party of Arunachal 11.

There are also 14 independent candidates in the fray.

The BJP won both Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections while in the assembly, the party bagged 41 seats. The JD (U) emerged victorious in seven, NPP in five, Congress in four while the PPA secured one seat and Independent candidates got two.