Arunachal, Sikkim Assembly vote count on June 2

New Delhi, March 17

The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday preponed the date of the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim to June 2 from June 4.

The polling date in both the states, however, would remain the same, i.e. April 19, said an EC official. The voting for the Lok Sabha elections in both states will also take place on April 19. The EC had announced earlier that the votes polled in the two Assembly elections were to be counted on June 4 along with Lok Sabha poll votes.

The counting date had been advanced as the term of the legislative Assemblies in both states would end on June 2, the official said.

“As the term of the two Assemblies is ending on June 2, the counting date has been advanced. There shall be no change in respect of schedule for parliamentary constituencies of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim,” the EC official said. The Assembly elections are also being held in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha along with parliamentary elections.

Arunachal Pradesh has two LS seats and a 60-member Assembly. The BJP won both LS seats in the last elections. In the Assembly, the BJP bagged 41 seats, JD(U) seven, NPP five, Congress four, PPA one while two seats were bagged by Independent candidates.

Sikkim has only one LS seat and a 32-member Assembly. In 2019, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) had won 17 seats, uprooting the SDF government of 25 years. The SDF had bagged 12 seats but after the elections, 11 of its MLAs defected to the BJP, except former CM Pawan Chamling. The BJP and the SKM had fought the 2019 polls in an alliance, but they are yet to announce any such tie-up for the April 19 polls.