BJP performs well in Arunachal local bodies polls

Team Udayavani, Dec 27, 2020, 3:31 PM IST

Itanagar: The BJP on Saturday wrested Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) from the Congress by winning six of the eight seats of the civic body in Arunachal Pradesh.

A day after mass defection of its MLAs to the BJP in the State, the JD(U), in its maiden contest in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation polls, bagged nine wards, securing the second spot in the tally after the saffron camp.

The ruling BJP in the State won 10 seats, one short of the majority, in the 20-member Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) and the NPP bagged one.

BJP and the NPP are part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

Among the 10 seats won by the BJP in the Itanagar civic body polls, five candidates were elected unopposed, State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Nyali Ete told reporters here.

The saffron party also clinched an absolute majority in the panchayat polls by winning 121 Zila Parishad Member (ZPM) out of 137 seats, which results were declared so far.

While the saffron party also bagged 2,688 seats of Gram Panchayat Members (GPM) out of total 8215, Ete said.

For the first time a total number of 12 female candidates won the urban local bodies poll in the State including, seven from the IMC and five from the PMC, the official said.

Among the prominent candidates in the IMC polls, Tame Phassang, BJP National Council Member and advisor to Chief Minister Pema Khandu and JD (U) State unit president Ruhi Tagung won from Ward 17 and 8 respectively.

The Congress, which had won seven seats in the 2013 PMC elections, secured only two wards this time, and the party failed to open its account in the IMC polls.

The performance of the Janata Dal (United) in the civic polls assumes significance as the party, received a major jolt in Arunachal Pradesh, with six of its seven MLAs shifting allegiance to the ruling BJP.

The JD(U), led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, won seven of the 15 seats it contested in the 2019 Arunachal assembly elections and emerged as the second-largest party after the BJP, which had bagged 41 seats.

The PMC had 12 seats while the IMC had 30 during the 2013 civic polls. However, the number of seats of both the urban local bodies was reduced after delimitation of wards.

The Congress had won seven seats in the last PMC polls, the BJP bagged two and independent candidates emerged victorious in three.

The Congress managed to secure 21 seats in the 2013 IMC elections, followed by the NCP (4), the BJP (3) while Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) and an independent won one each.

The elections have been delayed by over two years due to various reasons.

In the ZPM elections, independent candidates won seven seats so far followed by NPP (5), and two each by JD(U) and PPA.

Independent candidates also performed significantly in GPM election with 326 seats in their kitty, while the NPP won in 175 seats, Congress (133), JD(U) in 49 and PPA 8 seats respectively.

However, results of 103 ZPM seats are still awaited while elections to the ZPM seat at Vijaynagar in Changlang district and Hawai North in Anjaw district were kept in abeyance for various reasons.

Results of 4726 GPM seats are still awaited as counting of votes are going on, Ete said adding, the full result would be available on Sunday.

A total of 106 ZPM seats went unopposed with BJP (102), PPA (2) and one each by NPP and independent, while 3,273 GPM posts were elected without contest out of which 2634 went to BJP followed by Independents (306), NPP (163), JD(U) (35 and PPA 6, the secretary informed.

At least 110 Gram Panchayat segments in the State have fallen vacant due to various reasons. The SEC will take a final call on conducting by-elections to these seats after the current electoral process is over, the official said.

Seventy-three per cent voting was recorded in the rural and civic polls in the State on December 22. Counting was held in 56 centres spread across the State and there was no report of any untoward incidents, Ete said and added that in two polling booths in Upper Subansiri district, re-polling would be held on December 28 next.