The Confederation of Service Association of Arunachal Pradesh (CoSAAP) has requested the state government to exempt teachers engaged in teaching students of Class 10 and 12 from the municipal and panchayat poll duties. The panchayat and municipal polls are scheduled to be held simultaneously in a single phase on December 22.

In a letter to the state chief secretary on Saturday, the confederation requested him to exempt teachers from poll duties who are engaged in teaching students of class 10 and 12 respectively. "The classes which were suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic have just started from November 16 and if teachers, teaching students of Class- 10 and 12 are engaged in the simultaneous elections, the classes will be badly hampered," the Confederation said.

"It will also result in poor performances in the CBSE examinations next year," the CoSAAP added in the letter. Public notice for panchayat and municipal polls would be issued by returning officers on November 24, while last date of filing nomination papers is December 2. Scrutiny of papers would be held on December 4 and the last date of withdrawal of nominations is December 7.

Counting of votes would be held on December 26 and the entire process of the election would be completed by December 31. Arunachal Pradesh has 25 Zilla Parishads with 241 Zilla Parishad constituencies and 2,215 Gram Panchayats with 8436 constituencies. There are two municipal bodies in the state including Itanagar Municipal Corporation with 20 wards and Pasighat Municipality with 8 wards.