Arunachal Pradesh: Arunachal Pradesh will go to the polls on December 15 for simultaneous panchayat and municipal elections, the State Election Commission announced on Saturday. State Election Commissioner Rinchin Tashi outlined the schedule, saying the process begins on November 17 with the formal notification. Candidates can file nominations until November 24, scrutiny will be held on November 26, withdrawals close on November 29, and counting is set for December 20.

More than 8.3 lakh voters are eligible this time, including 7.59 lakh for panchayat bodies and 72,438 for municipal councils. Women form a slight majority in the panchayat electorate. The state currently has 27 zilla parishads with 245 constituencies and 2,103 gram panchayats covering 8,181 seats. The Itanagar Municipal Corporation has 20 wards, while the Pasighat Municipal Council has eight.

Upper Subansiri district accounts for the highest number of panchayat voters at 58,764, while Dibang Valley has just 3,854. In the civic polls, Itanagar’s ward 19 has the largest voter base at 5,106, and Pasighat’s ward 6 the smallest with 812.

To conduct the elections, the commission will set up 2,171 polling stations for panchayat voters, along with 67 stations for the IMC and 12 for the PMC. Municipal bodies will use EVMs, while panchayat elections will be held through ballot boxes. More than 40,000 personnel are being deployed, including about 15,000 polling staff.

The SEC will also assign 29 general observers—one to each district and one each to the IMC and PMC. Additional security measures will be put in place in sensitive areas of Tirap, Changlang, and Longding.

With the poll dates announced, the Model Code of Conduct is now in force across Arunachal. Tashi called on political parties and citizens to maintain calm and support free, fair, and peaceful elections.