Guwahati: BJP has captured power in Arunachal Pradesh for a third time in a row, winning 46 seats in the 60-member assembly, including 10 it had already won uncontested.
Congress won in only one of the 19 constituencies it contested, while National People’s Party (NPP) got five seats. NPP is an ally of BJP but fought the polls on its own.
Pema Khandu is likely to continue as the state’s chief minister for the third consecutive term. Khandu and deputy CM Chowna Mein are among the BJP candidates who won unopposed.
In 2019, the BJP had won 41 seats. He said the BJP would stake claim to form the government after the results of the Lok Sabha elections. BJP formed its government in Arunachal Pradesh in 2016 after Khandu, along with several MLAs, joined the party. They had left Congress and joined the People’s Party of Arunachal before shifting to BJP.
In Sikkim, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) returned to power for the second consecutive term, winning 31 seats in the 32-member assembly. The opposition Sikkim Democratic Front, which ruled the state for 25 years in a row till 2019, could manage only one seat, though its president Pawan Kumar Chamling lost in the two constituencies he contested.
BJP contested in 31 seats but failed to win any of them. The party bagged 5.18% of the total votes polled. Congress also failed to open its account and secured a paltry vote share of 0.32%, which is even less than that of NOTA (0.99%).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the people of Arunachal Pradesh for the landslide win. He hailed Tamang and SKM for the victory.
