20 first-timers win in assembly election

ITANAGAR, 2 Jun: A total of 20 first-timers tasted victory in Arunachal Pradesh.

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, Bameng, 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.

While the BJP’s vote share is 54.57 percent, 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.

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.

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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated the people of Arunachal Pradesh for the landslide win. (PTI)