Itanagar, Nov 8 (UNI) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Arunachal Pradesh has swept the Panchayat by-election by securing over 72 per cent Gram Panchayat (GP) seats, besides winning both the Zilla Parishad (ZP) constituencies in the recently held election, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
Remarkably, of the 54 GP constituencies that went to by-poll, 39 were captured by the ruling party, registering a 72.22 percent success rate. Of them, 37 GP seats were won by BJP uncontested and five seats by opposition Congress, according to the State Election Commission (SEC).
While 49 GP constituencies and one ZP constituency had been declared uncontested on the last date of withdrawal of candidature on October 21, polling for five GP seats and one ZP seat spread across five districts of Papum Pare, Shi-Yomi, Lower Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Anjaw took place on Monday.
After successful polling on November 6, the counting of votes was carried out by the respective Returning Officers on the scheduled date today, the Commission said.
Interestingly, Independents won three GP seats, while the ruling BJP had to be content with two seats. However, the ZP seat was won by the Saffron party.
Against the BJP’s 39, Independents emerged second securing nine GP seats, Congress five and National People’s Party (NPP) one, according to the State poll body.
