Amid Chorus for postponement of the Local body elections in Arunachal Pradesh by the opposition parties, including Congress, All Arunachal Pradesh Student Union (AAPSU), the State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday issued a clarification on the announcement of Polls that are to be held in a single phase on December 22.

“The announcement of local body elections both Panchayat and municipal bodies have been made in compliance with the High Court directives. The state election commission,” said in its issued statement. 

“The delay in conducting local body election was not made by SEC but by the state government due to various reasons such as amendment of acts rule for both PRI and municipal bodies, finalisation of women reservation, notification on delimitation of municipal bodies etc which were mandatorily required for conducting elections,” the commission said.

It further said that in the issue of Unlock 4.0 and 5.0 orders, the government of India has granted relaxation in political activities. Consequently, the election commission of India conducted the Assembly elections in Bihar and by-elections in 10 other states all over India recently. Thus, considering all the factors including constitutional mandate and High Court directives the state election commission was constrained to announce the already delayed local body elections on November 12.