By-polls to the 130 gram panchayat seats along with one zila parishad seat in Arunachal Pradesh will be held on July 12.

This was announced by the Arunachal Pradesh State Election Commission on Tuesday.

Election to 40 gram panchayat seats and one in zila parishad in Vijoynagar administrative sub-division under Changlang district have however been kept pending due to law and order and other administrative issues.

State Election Commissioner Hage Kojeen while speaking to media persons in Itanagar said, “11 seats have been excluded from the election process due to court cases pending before the Election Tribunal and Itanagar bench of Gauhati High Court.”

The by-polls will be held in 101 polling stations spread across 20 districts of the state. An estimated 7000 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

The notification for the panchayat by-poll will be issued on June 14 and the last date for filing nominations is June 21. Scrutiny of papers will be held on June 23, while last date for withdrawal of papers has been fixed on June 27.

Meanwhile, the counting of votes will be held on July 16.

More than 500 election officials will be involved in the panchayat by-poll excluding security personnel. Election observers would be deployed as per requirement on the recommendation of the district election officers, while two special observers from outside would also be present.

The state election commission appealed all stakeholders and political parties to extend their support in conducting the by-elections in a free, fair and peaceful manner.

Arunachal has a total 8145 gram panchayat and 242 zila parishad seats.