Arunachal gram panchayat

Itanagar, July 17: The ruling BJP in Arunachal Pradesh swept the panchayat by-polls by winning 108-gram panchayat (GP) seats, State Election Commission (SEC) officials said on Saturday.

The National Peoples’ Party (NPP) secured five gram panchayat seats, opposition Congress and Janata Dal (United) won three each and Independents bagged 11 seats, counting of votes for which was held on Saturday, State Election Commissioner Hage Kojeen said.

In the lone Zila Parishad member (ZPM) seat in Kurung Kumey district, Independent candidate Bengia Tayang won by defeating his rival NPP candidate Chello Tagar, by a margin of 98 votes.

The SEC on June 14 issued a notification for holding panchayat by-polls to 130-gram panchayat seats and one Zila Parishad member seat.

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However, in 116-gram panchayat seats, candidates were declared elected unopposed as there was only one candidate. The BJP won 101-gram panchayat seats, the NPP and Congress two seats each, one by JD(U) and Independent candidates 10.

By-elections were held for one Zila Parishad member seat and 14-gram panchayat seats on July 12.

An estimated 84.55%, out of a total of 4,057 eligible voters, exercised their franchise for electing 14-gram panchayat members and one ZPM, Kojeen informed.

Arunachal Pradesh has a total of 8,216-gram panchayat seats and 242 ZPM seats.

Among the Zila Parishad member seats, the ruling BJP has 188, JD (U) has 10, Congress (9), NPP (7), PPA (3), and independents (24).

Of the total gram panchayat seats in the State, BJP has 6,378 seats, Congress (378), NPP (243), JDU (159), PPA (27), and independents (1046).

Elections to 40-gram panchayat seats and one Zila Parishad member seat in the Vijoynagar sub-division of the Changlang district have been kept pending due to law & order and other administrative issues, Kojeen added.