By IANS,
Itanagar : Moderate to brisk polling was recorded by noon Tuesday for assembly elections in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh held amid heightened security measures, officials said.
“By and large voting is going on peacefully with an estimated 30 percent polling conducted till midday,” an election official said.
Voting began at 7 a.m. in 57 seats with three candidates already declared elected unopposed.
Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and two more ruling Congress members were declared elected unopposed – sitting legislator Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang constituency and debutant Jambey Tashi from the Lumla seat.
Khandu was elected unopposed from the Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, in the 1999 and 2004 assembly elections as well.
Many people queued up in front of polling stations well before voting began. Polling will end at 4 p.m.
“The enthusiasm of voters is tremendous,” the official said.
A total of 154 candidates are in the fray with the ruling Congress party fielding candidates in all the 60 seats.
An estimated 750,000 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise and voting is being held 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 Nationalist Congress Party and the Trinamool Congress, allies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi – and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).