Itanagar: A neck-and-neck electoral battle in on the cards in the assembly constituency of Pakke-Kesang, the newly created district in Arunachal Pradesh, where both contesting candidates of the ruling BJP and the Congress claim to enjoy equal popularity.
BJP’s BR Waghe and Congress nominee Atum Welly will vie for the seat, which was earlier a part of the East Kameng district. The state is going to simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, April 11.
The Pakke-Kesang assembly constituency was in the news post the 2014 assembly polls, as former deputy Chief Minister Kameng Dolo, who won as a Congress nominee, had to give up the seat, following a Gauhati High Court order that declared his election null and void.
Welly, who had then contested on a BJP ticket, filed a petition against Dolo, claiming that a fraudulent move had threw him out of the race with the Election Commission (EC) accepting a forged letter of his nomination withdrawal. He alleged that his signature was forged by Dolo.
In the by-election that followed December 21, 2017, BJP candidate Waghe bagged the seat, defeating his lone rival Dolo of the Congress by a margin of 475 votes.
The contest, this time, would be a tough one as both the candidates are equally popular among the 7,000 odd voters in the constituency, according to poll observers.
Welly, who quit the BJP to join the Congress last year, stressed on the possibility of rigging during the April 11 polls, while seating MLA Waghe alleged that the ‘grand old party’ candidate has been resorting to ‘cash for vote’ tactics.
“The Congress candidate is alluring voters by paying them huge sums of money, which is against the democratic spirit,” Waghe alleged. Welly, while refuting the charge, said, “He (Waghe) is from the ruling party and everything is possible in the state for the BJP, not the Congress.”
Jimmy Chiram, the superintendent of police of Pakke-Kessang district, contended that the administration has taken adequate measures to thwart off any untoward incident.
“We have deployed two platoons of CRPF forces and one company of Indian Reserve Battalion, along with civil police, to ensure violence-free polling in 26 booths, five of which are critical,” Chiram told this agency Tuesday.
This time, Waghe has chosen infrastructure development as his main poll plank, while Welly is attaching priority to issues of unemployment and road connectivity.
“During my stint as the representative of the seat, I was able to give Pakke-Kessang the status of a ‘district’ and bring mobile connectivity to the region,” pointed out Waghe.
Welly insisted that he would improve facilities in the health and education sectors, if voted to power.
PTI