Arunachal assembly polls counting on Sunday; BJP ahead with 10 unopposed wins

The counting of votes for the election to the Arunachal Pradesh assembly, polling for which was held on April 19, will take place on Sunday—two days ahead of votes for Lok Sabha seats across the country are counted.

While counting of votes for the two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state would happen on June 4, counting of ballots for the assembly polls to Arunachal Pradesh (and Sikkim) have been preponed as the term of the present assembly ends on June 2.

Though there are 60 members in the state assembly, polling took place only in 50 constituencies as 10 ruling Bharatiya Janata Party candidates including chief minister Pema Khandu and his deputy Chowa Mein won their seats unopposed.

“Counting of votes will begin at 6am on Sunday at 40 counting centres in 25 district headquarters. Postal ballots would be counted first, followed by electronic voting machines (EVMs) around 6.30am. The counting is expected to be over by noon,” Arunachal Pradesh chief electoral officer Pawan Kumar Sain said.

He added that adequate security arrangements have been put in place at the counting centres to ensure the process passes smoothly. As per Election Commission guidelines, no victory processions would be allowed after announcement of results.

“Elections had taken place to 50 assembly constituencies as BJP candidates had won unopposed in 10 seats. As June 2 is the last day for the existing assembly’s tenure to end, we want to complete the counting process soon. That’s why counting is set to begin from 6am and not 8am,” Sain said.

Arunachal Pradesh witnessed 82.95% voter turnout on April 19. While BJP put up candidates in all the 60 seats, opposition Congress contested from only 19 seats. The seats which BJP have won unopposed are Ziro-Hapoli, Taliha, Tali, Sagalee, Roing, Mukto, Itanagar, Hayuliang, Chowkham and Bomdila.

“As the voting result for the state assembly election are set to be announced on June 2, I extend my best wishes to all the BJP candidates. I am confident that BJP will win with a thumping majority,” BJP leader and deputy CM Chowna Mein posted on X on Saturday.

In 2019, the ruling BJP had retained power by winning 41 seats, Janata Dal (United) won 7, National Peoples Party (NPP) got 5, Congress won 4, Peoples Party of Arunachal Pradesh got 1 and the rest 2 seats were secured by Independents.