Assembly Polls in Arunachal, Sikkim to Be Held on April 19

The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll schedule for Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim on Saturday. Poll notification will be issued on March 20 and polling will be conducted on April 19.

Hyderabad:The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll schedule for Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. The voting for the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly will be held in a single phase, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday.

Arunachal Pradesh will vote in the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls on April 19, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. According to the EC, the notification for the Assembly elections would be issued on March 20 after which the nomination process would begin. The last date for filing nomination papers is March 27, while scrutiny of papers would be done on March 28. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 30.

The counting of votes for both Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections will be held on June 4. Arunachal Pradesh has two Lok Sabha seats and a 60-member assembly. The term of the present assembly is ending on June 2. BJP won both Lok Sabha seats in the last elections. In the assembly, the BJP bagged 41 seats, JD(U) won seven seats, the NPP won five seats, the Congress secured four seats, the PPA won one seat and two Independent candidates also won.

The BJP has declared candidates for all the Assembly seats, and named Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju for the Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat and Tapir Gao as its candidate for the Arunachal East seat. The NCP has also announced the names of eight candidates for the assembly polls

Pema Khandu of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the current Chief Minister of Arunachal Andhra Pradesh. Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), headed by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang is ruling the state.

After 25 years of undisputed rule in Sikkim, Chamling's Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) lost to Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). In a neck and neck battle between the regional parties, SKM bagged 17 seats to clinch the reign of Sikkim whereas SDF managed to grab 16. In this 32-seat legislative assembly, a party needed to reach a target of 17 to win a majority in the state. (With agency inputs)