Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 18 Mar: A total of 8,86,848 individuals will be voting in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Arunachal Pradesh on 19 April.
The counting of votes for the assembly elections is scheduled for 2 June, and for the parliamentary elections, the counting day is 4 June, as the state assembly will be expiring on that date, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain informed during a press briefing at the Nirvachan Bhavan here on Monday.
“The model code of conduct (MCC) came into force on 16 March, the day the date of elections was declared. Accordingly, the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act has been imposed by all the district election officers (DEO),” Sain informed.
“Compared to the 2019 elections, there has been an increase of 17.41 percent of voters this year,” he said, and added that “there is a record of 5,740 service voters and five transgender voters this time.”
There are 46,144 voters in the age group of 18-19, 4,257 octogenarian voters, and 232 centenarian voters, the CEO informed.
Out of the total 2,226 polling stations, 156 are for women, three for persons with disabilities, and 49 for youths.
“The electoral photo identity card has been made 100 percent compulsory,” Sain informed.
“Pumao in Longding district has the highest number of electors (1,462), while Malegaon in Hayuliang assembly constituency in Anjaw district has only one woman voter,” he said.
“Luguthang polling station in Mukto assembly constituency in Tawang district has the highest altitude of 30,383 feet,” he said.
The CEO informed also that “all the review meetings with the DEOs and SPs, and necessary arrangements have been made, and training of all the returning officers (RO), assistant ROs and the respective nodal officers has been completed.”
Webcasting facility has been set up in 204 urban polling stations, and in 202 rural polling stations. “This time, there will be webcasting in 750 polling stations, and 342 polling stations will have offline voting facility,” Sain said.
He informed also that “if the weather permits, helicopter sorties will be placed for places such as Tali, Vijaynagar, Pipsorang, Taksing, Anini, Tuting, and other remote areas.”
“In 2019, 91 polling stations were managed by women, and in this election it will be managed by 153 women,” the CEO said, adding that the state election commission has also identified 480 polling stations as “shadow zones or shadow areas,” where there is no access to phones or internet connectivity.
“Till date, Rs 3,88,35,496 in cash have been seized, and around 378 unlicenced arms have been seized in the run-up to the elections since February 2024,” informed the CEO.
“The total arm licences issued in the state is 33,996, and a total of 2,400 arm licences have been deposited. The state election commission has ensured 100 percent deposit of arms licences in all the district headquarters of the state,” Sain informed.
“After identification of all the ‘critical’ and ‘vulnerable’ polling stations, various nodal officers have been formed and the data for the vulnerable and critical polling stations may differ as the process of elections gears up,” said Sain.
Currently, 443 polling stations have been identified as being ‘vulnerable’ and 588 as ‘critical’.
IGP Chukhu Apa has been appointed as the nodal officer for law and order, with IGP Apur Bittin as the nodal officer for the monitoring of expenditure during the elections.
“Deputy Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar has been appointed as the overall in-charge during the elections, concerning law and order. Other officials, such as ICR DC Shweta Nagarkoti, have been appointed as nodal officers for human resource, while Liken Koyu, along with others, has been tasked with material management,” the CEO informed.
Besides personnel of the state police, 75 paramilitary companies have been deployed for election duties and one income tax officer each has been deployed in all the districts to closely monitor the monetary transactions, offline and online, said the CEO.
There are 1,618 nodal officers deployed in all the districts. “We are trying our best so that no re-poll happens this time. We cannot give a bad name to our state,” said Sain, adding that strict action will be taken if any untoward incident is reported during the elections.
“This time we will also set up an integrated checking point along with installation of video cameras in all those checking points,” said the CEO.
“A letter has also been issued to the chief secretary on Monday for the provision of postal voting for all the journalists working in recognised media houses of the state,” the CEO further said.
Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu and state election commission spokesperson Sonal Swaroop were also present at the meeting.
