The BJP swept to power Arunachal Pradesh for the third time in a row, winning 46 seats in the 60-member assembly as results were declared on Sunday – adding four more seats to its 2019 tally.
The BJP managed to decimate the opposition parties, especially the Congress, which was relegated to the fifth position with only one seat after NPP (5), NCP (3) and PPA (2). Three seats went to Independent candidates.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu asserted that the momentum of what happened in the ‘Land of the rising sun,’ a sobriquet for Arunachal Pradesh, will spread to other parts of the country on June 4 when votes for the Lok Sabha elections will be counted.
"This is a historic occasion for the BJP and entire Arunachal Pradesh. The people of Arunachal Pradesh have declared that they want BJP to stay in power for the next five years. This time, the mandate is more than what we got in 2019. In the 2019 Assembly polls, BJP won 41 seats, while we have won 46 seats this time," Khandu told PTI.
He won uncontested from the Mukto assembly constituency. Nine other BJP candidates also won victory unopposed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the people of Arunachal Pradesh for the landslide win.
“Thank you Arunachal Pradesh! The people of this wonderful state have given an unequivocal mandate to politics of development. My gratitude to them for reposing their faith in @BJP4Arunachalyet again. Our Party will keep working with even greater vigour for the state’s growth,” Modi said in a post on X.
To a question from reporters regarding the formation of the new ministry, Khandu said that after the Lok Sabha polls counting on June 4, all the winning candidates of the party would convene a meeting where the chief ministerial candidate would be decided.
“BJP is a disciplined party. The party will select the leader with consensus from all elected candidates,” Khandu said.
While the BJP’s vote share was 54.57 per cent, as many as 14 party candidates including Education Minister Taba Tedir, were defeated this time. The minister was defeated by NCP nominee Toko Tatung, a greenhorn, in the Yachuli constituency.
A total of 20 first-timers won in the northeastern state. Eleven of them are from BJP, four from NPP, two each from PPA and NCP and one independent.
The opposition Congress which fielded 19 candidates in the 60-member assembly managed to bag only one seat, Bamang, where former state home minister Kumar Waii won by a slender margin of 635 votes defeating BJP’s Doba Lamnio.
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