HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, June 2: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday retained in Arunachal Pradesh, while the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) secured a second term in Sikkim.
Voting was held for 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 32 assembly seats in Sikkim on April 19.
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The saffron party returned to power in Arunachal Pradesh for the third time in a row after winning 46 seats in the 60-member assembly, and bagging four more seats compared to its 2019 tally.
In sweeping the assembly elections, the counting of which was held during the day, the BJP decimated 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 said.
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.
In response, Khandu said, “Your guidance and vision have played a monumental role in our success. We shall continue with greater vigour to work for Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.”
Khandu himself won uncontested from the Mukto assembly constituency. Nine other BJP candidates also tasted victory unopposed.
“The people of the state has repaid to the contribution of Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)…..The development witnessed under the BJP-led NDA regime in the state is the major factor for the party’s win in the state,” Khandu asserted.
The development witnessed in Arunachal Pradesh under the BJP-led central government is a major factor for the party’s win in the state, the chief minister asserted.
To a question 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 is 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 tasted victory 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.
State Congress president NabamTuki said the party was “disappointed but not demoralised” by the election results.
“We will introspect about the causes of the defeat and work on the organisation in the coming days,” he added.
The National People’s Party (NPP) which won five seats, annexed 16.11 per cent while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) gained a vote share of 10.43 per cent and won three seats.
The regional People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) which managed to win two seats had a vote share of 7.24 per cent.
Kiren Rijjiju, Union minister and Lok Sabha poll candidate from Arunachal Pradesh, said the credit for this assembly polls results goes to the people of the state, the BJP workers and the leadership of PM Modi.
“The development that took place in Arunachal Pradesh in the last 10 years, didn’t happen when the Congress was in power there for 60 years… This victory will inspire us to work more in the future,” Rijiju said.
On the other hand the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) returned to power by sweeping the assembly polls in the Himalayan state, winning 31 of the 32 seats.
The opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for 25 years in a row till 2019, could manage only one seat, while its president and former CM Pawan Kumar Chamling, who is Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang’s mentor-turned-adversary, lost in the two seats he contested.
The 73-year-old eight-term legislator will not be seen in the assembly for the first time since 1985.
Tamang, however, won from two seats, and his party bagged 58.38 per cent of the votes polled. The SKM had won 17 seats in the 2019 assembly polls.
The Prime Minister hailed Tamang and the SKM for the victory. (With inputs from PTI)
