Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

About 66 pc voter turnout in Arunachal Pradesh

By Correspondent

ITANAGAR, April 11 - An estimated 66 per cent voters of the total of 7.98 lakh electorate cast their votes in the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. The figure may increase when the final reports come. The polling was held for 57 out of the total of 60 Assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats in the frontier State.

�By and large, the poll day went off peacefully without much disturbance in Arunachal Pradesh. There was no any major law and order problem throughout the State,� stated Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kank Darang.

�Like in the 2014 elections, there has been an unprecedented turnout of voters in Arunachal. I am not been able to get all the reports from districts since there are many polling stations where it takes whole day or two days to reach their headquarters�Some polling teams will be brought back by chopper.

�As on today, the polling percentage is 66 per cent�We hope that it will rise and reach somewhere above 70 per cent,� the Addl CEO said, while adding that in the 2014 elections, the polling percentage was 77 per cent.

An official report from Tawang said that voting in Luguthang, the native village of BJP candidate from Mukto and Chief Minister Pema Khandu, recorded cent per cent turnout.

The Addl CEO also said, �As per the reports that came from various districts, we have around 13 polling stations where poll was not conducted due to various reasons like, defective EVMs which could not be replaced in time, breakage of EVMs and other reasons.�

The Addl CEO also stated that there were some �minor disturbances� that occurred in places like Pipsorang under Kra Daadi district where three persons were injured in a group clash between supporters of two political parties. Reportedly, the injured were evacuated to an Itanagar hospital for medical treatment, by a chopper.

Asked whether there will be re-polling where polls could not be conducted, he said it could be done by the EC on the basis of recommendation from the concerned DEO and Election Observer. The Addl CEO also informed that there has been an �unfortunate� incident where one of the polling officers passed away while on election duty.

�Tenak Socia, who was the fourth polling officer at Lazu upper primary school polling booth under Khonsa West Assembly segment in Tirap district, died of a massive heart attack while on poll duty today. As per the ECI guidelines, a minimum amount of Rs 15 lakh is to be provided to the next kin of the deceased official as ex-gratia payment,� Darang said. Late Socia was holding the post of work in-charge under Water Resources Department.

He also informed that the total cash seized by various agencies in the run-up to the April 11 polls was Rs 6.36 crore and a total of 52,402 litres of liquor worth Rs 1.97 crore had also been confiscated and damaged by the ECI teams.

Next Story