News Analysis India

Tag: Itanagar

  • Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections: Counting of votes for Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections to begin at 6 am on June 2

    Counting of votes for the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections will begin at 6 am on June 2, an official said here on Wednesday. Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were held simultaneously in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19.

    “Over 2000 officials will be deployed for counting of votes on both the days – (June 2 Assembly election and June 4 Lok Sabha),” the official said.

    Counting of votes for assembly elections will start from 6 am on June 2 while that for Lok Sabha polls would start from 8 am on June 4, Chief Electoral Officer Pawan Kumar Sain said. “This time we have decided to conduct counting for all constituencies in a district simultaneously and will try to announce the results by noon,” Sain said, adding that media centres would be set up in all counting centres to disseminate information on counting updates. AllUttar PradeshMaharashtraTamil NaduWest BengalBiharKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTelanganaKeralaMadhya PradeshRajasthanDelhiOther StatesCounting of votes for 50 assembly seats out of a total of 60, will be held in 24 centres in the state on June 2 while that for Lok Sabha seats would be conducted in 25 centres on June 4, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu said. The ruling BJP has already won 10 seats in the 60-member assembly unopposed. The second round of training for officials for counting of votes ended on Tuesday, an official said. “A three-tier security barricade have been made in all the counting centres comprising personnel of central paramilitary forces, state armed police and state civil police, available in the state,” the CEO said.

    “I had already convened a coordination meeting with all the district electoral officers (DEOs) and superintendents of police (SPs) to review the law and order situation along with chief secretary and director general of police, where the DGP directed all SPs to ensure peaceful counting process,” Sain said.

    The CEO said that the DEOs have been instructed to ensure that counting agents of various political parties enter the counting centres without cell phones.

    A total of 133 candidates contested in the assembly seats while 14 in the two Lok Sabha seats.

    In the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat, eight candidates including Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju and state Congress president Nabam Tuki contested the elections.

    Sitting BJP MP Tapir Gao and state Congress vice-president Bosiram Siram are among the six candidates who contested from Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat.

    The BJP had won both the Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections while in the assembly the party had bagged 41 seats. The JD (U) had won seven seats, NPP in five, Congress in four while the PPA had secured one seat and Independent candidates got two.

  • No total lockdown in Itanagar for now

    By PTI
    ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh government has turned down the request for a week-long total lockdown in the state capital from July 12 but suggested a slew of measures to check the spike in COVID-19 cases.

    In a letter to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Capital Deputy Commissioner Talo Potom on Saturday sought approval for a total lockdown for a week from Monday, citing the rise in COVID-19 cases.

    He said that in view of the rise in the cases in the Capital region, the administration convened a meeting on Friday with all the stakeholders, who recommended total lockdown as per the suggestion of the Health Department to contain the spread of the virus.

    Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary Sharat Chauhan wrote back to the DC, saying a meeting was held on Saturday with the State Health Task Force (SHTF) and officials of the Health Department over the matter.

    “In the meeting, the positivity rate, active cases trend and the bed occupancy ratio in your district were discussed. It was observed by the SHTF that the positivity rate and the bed occupancy ratio display a slight upward trend but are yet to reach the threshold limits warranting enhanced containment measures (total lockdown) in ICC (Itanagar Capital Complex) district,” Chauhan said.

    The Health Secretary, however, advised the ICC authorities to continue identifying micro containment zones where the positivity rate is above 5 per cent and undertake effective containment or surveillance measures.

    The local authorities were also asked to enforce closure of shops and establishments on either side of the highway from Naharlagun to Hollongi on alternative days in the coming week and enforce Covid appropriate behaviour among the public strictly, including “no entry without masks in shops”.

    Following the directions, police started strictly enforcing the measures in the state capital.

    IGP (Law and Order) Chukhu Apa said that ten check-points were installed to check the violations.

    “We will ensure that the checkings are mobile and people not wearing masks challaned on the spot,” he said, adding that six checking points were put up in Itanagar and four at Naharlagun.

    He also said that most of the vehicles are plying without a valid registration number and sporting a tampered plate.

    Many irresponsible people do not wear helmets while driving, which is harmful as well as offensive, he added.