Counting of votes for the panchayat and civic body elections in Arunachal Pradesh began on Saturday morning, December 20, under tight security arrangements. Officials said that elaborate steps were taken across the state to ensure a smooth and transparent counting process.
According to State Election Commission Secretary Taru Talo, the counting process started at 8 am at 45 designated counting centres set up in 27 districts. These centres have been manned with adequate staff and security personnel. Officers said that the district administrations and police have worked together to make the counting peaceful and orderly.
Electronic Voting Machines are being used to count the votes cast in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and Pasighat Municipal Council elections. However, ballot papers are being counted for the panchayat elections, as voting for rural local bodies continued to use paper ballots. 
Officials said that in the panchayat elections, counting is underway for 186 Zilla Parishad Member seats out of the total 245 seats. A total of 59 candidates were elected unopposed before polling day. In the Gram Panchayat category, 6,227 candidates have already been declared elected unopposed. Voting took place in the remaining 1,947 seats where more than one candidate was contesting.
Talo said that polling for 16 wards of the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and eight wards of the Pasighat Municipal Council was conducted on December 15. In the Itanagar civic body polls, four candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party were elected unopposed. He added that the election authorities have followed guidelines and worked with the state police to maintain law and order.
The State Election Commission said that the panchayat elections were conducted peacefully across Arunachal Pradesh. Officials said there were no major incidents reported from any of the districts during polling. They said this was possible due to good coordination between the election machinery and the security forces deployed.
The voter turnout in the panchayat polls was nearly 75 per cent across the state, officials said. Rural polling stations saw large participation from voters in many districts. In the urban local body elections, voter turnout stood at 51.39 per cent in the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and 60.95 per cent in the Pasighat Municipal Council.
