Voting underway in Arunachal: 133 candidates in fray for 50 Assembly seats and 14 candidates for 2 LS seats

8 Lakh 88 thousand 816 voters out of which 4,33,760 are male voters and 4,49,050 female voters will decide the fate of the total 147 candidates in fray.

Voting is underway for 50 Assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh.
Voting has begun at 7 am at 2,226 polling stations spread over the entire State. Voting is peaceful so far as no report of untoward incident has been reported yet.
While, 133 candidates are in fray for 50 Assembly seats, 14 candidates are in fray for the 2 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
8 Lakh 88 thousand 816 voters out of which 4,33,760 are male voters and 4,49,050 female voters will decide the fate of the total 147 candidates in fray.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu is among the early voters. CM Khandu cast his vote at a polling station in Tawang.
After casting his vote, CM Khandu said, “Kamal ka Phool” is sure to bloom in Arunachal Pradesh and the BJP will win both Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP is contesting in all the 50 seats (BJP won 10 seats uncontested) while the opposition Congress is fighting in only 19 seats.
The NPP has fielded candidates in 20 seats, the NCP is fighting in 14 seats and the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) is contesting 11 seats, the Arunachal Democratic Party has fielded candidates in four seats, while the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) is fighting one seat.
Also, there are 14 Independent candidates in the fray.
Worth mentioning, the BJP has won 10 seats uncontested in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly.

While no Opposition parties fielded candidates in five constituencies, rivals of the BJP withdrew their nominations in five more seats by March 30, the last day of withdrawal of candidature.
Among those who won uncontested were Chief Minister Pema Khandu from Mukto and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein from Chowkham.
The other winners are Ratu Techi from Sagalee, Jikke Tako (Tali), Nyato Dukam (Taliha), Mutchu Mithi (Roing), Hage Appa (Ziro-Hapoli), Techi Kaso (Itanagar), Dongru Siongju (Bomdila), and Dasanglu Pul (Hayuliang).
At present, the strength of the parties in the Arunachal Legislative Assembly is as follows-
BJP – 56
CONG – 1
NPP – 2
IND – 1
TOTAL – 60
BJP has a strength of 56 MLAs, NPP-2, Congress-1. BJP MLA from Changlang South Phosum Khimhun had passed away this March leaving the seat vacant.
For the Lok Sabha elections, there are a total of 14 candidates in the fray. Eight candidates are in the fray for the Arunachal West constituency and six candidates for the Arunachal East seat.
The key candidates in the Arunachal East seat are 2-time BJP MP from Arunachal East and Arunachal BJP President, Tapir Gao and Congress’ Bosiram Siram. Bosiram Siram is 2-time Pasighat East MLA.
Bandey Mili of Arunachal Democratic Party is also in the fray.
The contest for the Arunachal West seat will be between 3-time Arunachal West MP and union minister Kiren Rijiju of BJP, former Arunachal CM, sitting Sagalee MLA and Arunachal Congress president Nabam Tuki and Tumke Bagra of Arunachal Democratic Party.
Key Highlights:

• 80 candidates are first-time candidates. The highest number of first-time candidates has been fielded by the Congress. Of its 19 candidates, 17 are new.
• BJP has fielded 14 new candidates, while the NPP has nominated 16 first-time nominees.
• 8 women candidates in fray — the highest in any Assembly election so far. Though it’s dismally low compared to other parts of the country. The BJP has fielded 4 women, while the Congress has fielded 3, and there is 1 female Independent candidate.

Also Read: Polling for 15 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Northeast underway, 96 candidates in fray

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