Repolling underway in eight polling stations in Arunachal amid heavy security

Itanagar, April 24 (IANS) Repolling at eight polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh is underway amid tight security on Wednesday, officials said.

According to election officials, the voting is going on peacefully and over 50 per cent of voters have cast their ballots till noon.

The Election Commission on Sunday declared, as “void”, the simultaneous elections (Lok Sabha and Assembly) held at eight polling stations in four districts in Arunachal Pradesh and announced fresh polling in these stations.

The officials said that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were damaged and incidents of violence were reported in these eight polling stations during simultaneous polling to Lok Sabha and Assembly on the first phase of voting on April 19.

The fresh polling began at 6 a.m. on Wednesday in the polling stations under four districts -- East Kameng, Kurunq Kumey, Upper Subansiri and Siang.

During the first phase of polling on April 19, over 82.71 per cent of 8.92 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the simultaneous Assembly and Parliamentary polls to the two Lok Sabha constituencies and 50 of the 60 Assembly seats in the border state.

Ruling BJP candidates in 10 Assembly seats, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu (Mukto) and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein (Chowkham), have been elected unopposed.

The counting of votes for the Assembly elections will be taken up on June 2, while the results of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced on June 4.