Itanagar, Nov 17: Arunachal Pradesh will hold panchayat and municipal elections simultaneously on December 15, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Saturday.

State Election Commissioner Rinchin Tashi said the election process will begin with the issuance of notifications on November 17. Nominations can be filed until November 24, followed by scrutiny on November 26. The last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 29, and counting of votes will take place on December 20.

Over 8.3 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the state, including 7.59 lakh for the panchayat polls and 72,438 for municipal elections. Notably, women voters outnumber men in the panchayat electorate.

Arunachal currently has 27 zilla parishads with 245 constituencies and 2,103 gram panchayats covering 8,181 seats. The Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) has 20 wards, while the Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) has eight wards.

Upper Subansiri district has the highest number of panchayat voters at 58,764, while Dibang Valley has the lowest with 3,854 voters. In civic polls, Itanagar’s ward number 19 has the highest number of voters (5,106), and Pasighat’s ward number 6 has the fewest (812).

For smooth polling, the SEC will set up 2,171 polling stations for panchayat elections, 67 for IMC, and 12 for PMC. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in municipal polls, while ballot boxes will be deployed in panchayat elections.

More than 40,000 personnel, including around 15,000 polling staff, will be on duty. The SEC will appoint 29 general observers—one in each district and for both municipal bodies. Special security measures will be implemented in sensitive districts such as Tirap, Changlang, and Longding.

With the announcement of the schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force across the state. Tashi urged political parties and citizens to cooperate to ensure peaceful, transparent, and fair elections.