No contest for BJP nominee in Arunachal's Aalo East seat

BJP candidate from Aalo East assembly constituency, Kento Jini, is set to be elected unopposed, after nomination papers of his lone rival Minkir Lollen of the Congress was found invalid on Tuesday.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kanki Darang said the official announcement would be made after April 28, the last date of withdrawal of candidature.

Altogether 198 candidates remained in fray for 60 assembly constituencies, after scrutiny of papers on Tuesday.

The nomination papers of 13 candidates were found invalid during scrutiny for various reasons, Darang said.

There are 24 independents in the race to contest the the assembly polls.

For the two Lok Sabha seats in the state, all the 12 nominations were found valid, including five from Arunachal East Parliamentary constituency and seven from the Western seat.

The ruling BJP has fielded 60 candidates, while the opposition Congress has pitched 49. The JD(U) would contest in 16 assembly seats followed by the National Peoples' Party (NPP) in 30 seats, Janata Dal Secular (JDS) in 11 and Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA) in 8 assembly seats.

Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh would be held on April 11.