188 candidates to contest Arunachal Pradesh assembly polls

ITANAGAR: Altogether 188 candidates, including Independents, are in the fray for the 60-member assembly in Arunachal Pradesh, election for which will be held on April 9.

The filing of papers which started on March 15, the date of issue of notification, ended yesterday, election office sources informed here today.

For the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, altogether 11 candidates filed their papers.

The Western Parliamentary constituency would witness multi-cornered contest with seven candidates in the fray namely Takam Sanjoy of Congress, BJP candidate Kiren Rijiju, People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) candidate Jalley Sonam, Aaam Aadmi Party nominee Habung Payeng, Taba Taku of Lok Bharati, Trinamool Congress candidate Gumjum Haider and NCP nominee Gicho Kabak (NCP).

The candidates for eastern Parliamentary Constituency include Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Ninong Ering (Congress), former BJP MP Tapir Gao and PPA nominee Wangman Lowangcha.

The Congress has fielded 60 candidates for the assembly polls, while opposition BJP nominated 49 candidates, PPA (20), NCP (12), NPF (11) and Aam Aadmi Party fielded one candidate.

A total of 32 Independent candidates are also in the fray for the 60-member assembly.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which contested the 2009 assembly elections in the state for the first time and won five seats, surprisingly did not fielded any candidates this time.

However, the party has fielded one candidate from Western Parliamentary constituency.

Scrutiny of papers would be held on March 24 while last date of withdrawal of candidature is March 26.

Altogether 7,53,170 electorates, including 3,77,272 female voters, would exercise their franchise in 2,158 polling stations across the state.