Voting begins in Arunachal Pradesh
October 13th, 2009 - 8:40 am ICT by IANS
Itanagar, Oct 13 (IANS) Voting for 57 of the 60 assembly seats in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh opened Tuesday morning amid tight security, officials said.
An election official said voting began at 7 a.m. in the 57 seats with three candidates already declared elected unopposed.
Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and two more ruling Congress members - sitting legislator Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang constituency and debutant Jambey Tashi from the Lumla seat - were declared elected unopposed.
Khandu was elected unopposed from the Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, in the 1999 and 2004 assembly elections as well.
A total of 157 candidates are in the fray with the ruling Congress party fielding candidates in all the seats.
An estimated 750,000 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise with voting taking place in 2,000 polling booths in the state.
The fight for political supremacy would be between the ruling Congress party and a fractured opposition - two of them, the NCP and the Trinamool Congress, allies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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- Voting ends in Arunachal, 70 percent polling recorded (Evening Lead) - Oct 13, 2009
- Congress wins Arunachal polls, set for second term (Fourth Lead) - Oct 22, 2009
- Stage set for Arunachal Pradesh poll - Oct 12, 2009
- Congress emerges frontrunner in Arunachal Pradesh - Oct 20, 2009
- Congress set to sweep Arunachal Pradesh polls (Third Lead) - Oct 22, 2009
- Congress sweeps Arunachal polls, Trinamool makes surprise debut (Night Lead) - Oct 22, 2009
- Millionaires rule the roost in Arunachal elections - Oct 08, 2009
- Congress favourite to win in Arunachal Pradesh - Oct 10, 2009
- Arunachal chief minister wins poll unopposed third time - Sep 27, 2009
- Congress leads in Arunachal, set to sweep (Lead) - Oct 22, 2009
- Congress retains Maharashtra, Arunachal, Haryana headed for hung assembly - Oct 22, 2009
- Arunachal saddened over untimely demise of Chief Minister Khandu - May 04, 2011
- Counting of votes begins in Arunachal - Oct 22, 2009
- Congress Working Committee condoles Dorjee Khandu's death - May 05, 2011
Tags: alliance government, assembly elections, assembly seats, bharatiya janata party, chief minister, congress members, congress party, constituency, election official, ncp, northeastern state, political supremacy, polling booths, progressive alliance, security officials, state of arunachal pradesh, tashi, tight security, trinamool congress, tuesday morning