Arunachal Pradesh chief minister and senior BJP leader Pema Khandu on December 11 kicked off a campaign of his party for the panchayat and municipal elections in the state, scheduled to be held simultaneously in a single phase on December 22.
Addressing an election rally at Naharlagun, Khandu highlighted the various developmental activities carried out by the ruling dispensation.
“There was a time when the Northeast was neglected. But today the visit of central ministers to Northeast is frequent prompting development activities to go full swing. Under BJP, all big pending projects have been completed and many others on the verge of completion. Besides development, BJP has also focused on transformation and bringing transparency in governance,” he said.
Khandu, who was campaigning for his party’s nominees for Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) election, appealed to the people to vote for BJP as he felt that this election is crucial in electing good candidates for making the ‘smart city’ project a successful venture.
Pema Khandu said much effort went in winning two proposals for ‘smart cities’ in Arunachal making it the only state in the entire Northeast to be granted so.
The senior BJP leader also promised to improve the law and order situation of the capital and assured to increase CCTV installations and street lightings all over the city, including along the four-lane highway. Besides, to get all sectorial roads in the city to be paved with CC pavement.
Pema Khandu said the airport for capital was languishing for a decade, but the work finally started after much effort went in resolving pending issues, finalizing the site and completing the ground survey.
Under BJP, he said railways services to the capital region have also increased.
Assuring devolution of powers to the municipal, Pema Khandu said the BJP government believes in decentralization of power. He said the municipality is presently allotted power over 13 subjects despite assurances earlier over 20. He assured to extend power over all 20 subjects if BJP forms the local municipal bodies.
BJP already ahead in Arunachal local body polls: Pema Khandu
Claiming that a total of 5564 BJP candidates have been elected unopposed ahead of the local body elections, Khandu expressed his gratitude to the people of the state.
“The support shown by the people of Arunachal is ‘historic’ and is unprecedented in the history of local body elections in Arunachal,” Pema Khandu said.
State BJP president Biyuram Wahge and general secretary Zingnu Namchoom, home minister Bamang Felix and other top party officials were also present.
As per the latest data issued by the State Election Commission (SEC), a total of 6,267 candidates have been declared elected unopposed ahead of the two-tier panchayat election, which includes 99 zilla parishad members (ZPMs) and 6,168 gram panchayat members (GPMs).
