[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 4 Jun: Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao emerged victorious in the western and the eastern parliamentary constituency, respectively, in the Lok Sabha election.
Union Earth Sciences Minister Rijiju defeated his nearest rival Nabam Tuki of the Congress, while Gao defeated Bosiram Siram of the Congress. While both the leaders rejoiced in victory, they may have to thank the other candidates who helped split the opposition votes, thereby allowing their victories.
In the eastern parliamentary constituency, during the early trend on Tuesday, Siram was leading against Gao. At one point it looked like he might extract a surprise victory and cause heartburn among the BJP supporters. However, Gao rallied back and won the seat. But he should be thankful to the independent candidates who amassed huge votes that hurt the Congress candidate’s prospects.
Gao received 1,45,581 votes while Siram got 1,15,160. Independent candidates Tamat Gamoh (27,603 votes), Sotai Kri (14,213), Oman Nitik (9,369), and Bandey Mili of the Arunachal Democratic Party (6,622) got good numbers of votes.
Interestingly, 4,895 people voted for NOTA. This is a big number for a state like Arunachal Pradesh.
The split in opposition votes in the western parliamentary constituency also helped Rijiju sail through easily. While Rijiju received 2,05,417 votes, his rival Tuki of the Congress got 1,04,679. Like in eastern Arunachal, the independent candidates got good response from the voters. Techi Rana (33,314 votes), Bimpak Siga (11,518), Ruhi Tagung (7,821), Leki Norbu (2,271), and Tania June(1,958) all fought the election as an independent candidates.
Toko Sheetal of the Gana Suraksha Party, who fought a very high-profile election, got 30,530 votes. She received fewer votes than Techi Rana, who made a late foray intothe election at the last moment. Rana, who rose to fame being part of the PAJSC, which led the movement against the APPSC paper leakage scam, received good response from the youths.
In the western parliamentary constituency, 2,296 voted for NOTA.
