Despite a major setback ahead of Assembly election in Arunachal Pradesh when BJP’s 15 leaders including 12 other sitting legislators defected to the National People’s Party (NPP), BJP got landslide victory as the mandate out on Thursday favored the party. BJP got success to win 41 seats out of 57 seats polled. Party gained 35 more seats than that it got in 2014 assembly elections.
Offended over not granting party tickets, state General Secretary Jarpum Gamlin, state Home Minister Kumar Waii and Tourism Minister Jarkar Gamlin for the Assembly elections, joined NPP including other sitting MLAs before election in March this year.
The ruling BJP had already opened its account in the assembly polls by winning three seats unopposed from East constituency in West Siang district, Yachuli seat in Lower Subansiri district and Dirang seat in West Kameng district. On the remaining 57 seats of Assembly simultaneously went polled with Lok Sabha election on Phase one. The state saw 66 per cent turnout in this Assembly polls.
Though Congress had won the Assembly elections 2014 but 33 of its 44 MLAs led by chief minister Pema Khandu first joined PPA and then merged into BJP in 2016 to form the government.
In current election from Mukto constituency in Tawang district, Chief Minister Pema Khandu defeated the Congress’s Thupten Kunphen. While state Home Minister Kumar Waii, who quit the BJP to join the NPP, lost the Bameng assembly seat to BJP’s Gorduk Pordung.
Earlier, the state has been a bastion of Congress for years where all 60 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. Congress got four seats in this assembly election while NPP won five.
In 2014, Congress got 44 seats with 50 per cent vote share. While In 2009 party won 42 seats with 50.4 per cent vote share and in 2004 it won 34 seats with 44 per cent vote share. While rival BJP got 9, 3 and 11 seats in 2004, 2009 and 2014 general elections.