Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh unit of BJP on Sunday released its first lists of 36 contenders for contesting in the elections in 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly to be held on April 9.
The selection process for candidates took place in Delhi on Saturday in the Central Election Committee of BJP under the chairmanship of national president Rajnath Singh.
The meeting was attended by L K Advani, chairman, BJP parliamentary party, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj , Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and all the members of the Central Election Committee of the BJP.
Most of the selected candidates in Arunachal Pradesh were newcomers. They will fight for the first time in the election on BJP tickets.
Among the aspirants, most prolific name among the candidates was the second longest serving chief minister in the country, Gegong Apang, who snatched all ties with the INC and formally joined the saffron brigade during Narendra Modi’s rally held at Pasighat last month.
He will contest in the election for his earlier home constituency, 34-Tuting-Yingkiong (ST) from where he was elected in the Assembly from 1980 to till 2004 General Election.
He tasted his first defeat in his career in the 2009 assembly election at the hands of NCP candidate, Alo Libang.
The party also retained the names of its three sitting MLAs – Tamiyo Taga (32-Rumgong ST), Tapen Siga (24-Daporijo ST) and Tangor Tapak (38-Pasighat ST) assembly constituencies.
Other prominent leaders in the state politics, are former ministers, Lowangcha Wanglat and Japu Deru.
They will contest once again to try their luck from 57-Borduria Bogapani (ST) and 7-Bomdila (ST) constituencies respectively.
Earlier, BJP had announced the names of its two former MPs name for contesting in the two parliamentary constituencies of the state.
They were Tapir Gao from Arunachal East and Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal West Parliamentary Constituencies. (UNI)
Arunachal CEO dispels doubts of disturbance during polls
Itanagar: Dispelling doubts of disturbance in border areas during simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhusan Kumar on Sunday said the state has sufficient paramilitary force and precautions have been taken to ensure free and fair election.
Addressing government officials during an election training here, Kumar said all the officers of the state capital have been placed in a standby position for reinforcement to various districts. “The decision has been taken in view of simultaneous polling in the state where there is manpower deficit in most of the districts as the earlier plan was for single election.
Managing simultaneous elections is a strenuous job hence polling personnel has to be doubled this time,” he said. He assured the officials engaged in the election process of safety and comfort. (PTI)