With polling teams reaching remote and far-away polling centres like Vijaynagar and Gandhigram close to the India-Myanmar border, voters in Arunachal Pradesh are all set to decide the fate of 154 candidates when polling takes place on Tuesday.
Polling will be held in 57 of the total 60 seats as the ruling Congress has already won all the three seats of Tawang district unopposed. Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was among the three ruling-party candidates to have been declared winner unopposed. Mr. Khandu made it to the Assembly uncontested for a record third time.
There will be live webcam feed from polling stations in the remote Tirap district on the India-Myanmar border. The live telecast will be available from 7 a.m. onwards on the district website — www.tirap.in. and people worldwide can see the conduct of polls in Tirap on a real-time basis, district authorities said.
A 25-member team was flown to Vijaynagar under Miao Assembly constituency in a helicopter to conduct polls in four centres covering the remote and totally air-maintained administrative circle.
Circle Officer Vijaynagar, Rakesh Rai, who is also the Assistant Returning Officer told The Hindu over the Digital Satellite Phone Terminal installed at the circle office after the recent Lok Sabha polls that polling would be held in the Gandhigram, Tohat, Ramnagar and Vijaynagar polling centres.
There is no road to Vijaynagar and there is no electricity in any of the 14 villages of this most backward administrative circle of the poll-bound State. Air transport is the only mode of communication and travel and the only alternative to reach Miao, the nearest town, is a six-day long trek through a 157-km stretch of thick jungles through the Namdapha Tiger Reserve and National Park.
During the recent Lok Sabha polls, inclement weather delayed the return of the polling team from Vijaynagar.
Among the 154 candidates left in the fray, 62 are crorepatis. The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) candidate for the Palin Assembly constituency in Kurung Kumey district leads the list. Mr. Tagar has declared in his affidavit that he possessed total assets worth over Rs. 209 crore. The Chief Minister, who has already won unopposed, declared assets worth over Rs. 22 crore.
Those left in the fray include 57 candidates from the Congress, 18 from the Bharatiya Janata Party, 36 from the Nationalist Congress Party, 26 from the All-India Trinamool Congress, 11 from the PPA, three from the Janata Dal (United) and three independents. Altogether, nine women candidates are contesting.
