Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday, May 2, recorded landslide victories in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, to retain power for their second and third consecutive terms in the Himalayan states.
The SKM won 31 seats in the 32-member assembly and secured a majority, officials said. The party led by chief minister Prem Singh Tamang, is also leading in 10 other seats.
Tamang won from Rhenock seat by over 7,000 votes. He is also leading in Soreng Chakung constituency.
The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for 25 years in a row till 2019, bagged just one seat, Elections Commission officials said.
SDF president and former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling lost the two seats he contested.
Elections to the assembly were held simultaneously with the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.
BJP sweeps polls in Arunachal
The BJP returned to power in Arunachal Pradesh for the third time in a row, 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 the 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 Video.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the people of Arunachal Pradesh for the big win.
“Thank you Arunachal Pradesh! The people of this wonderful state have given an unequivocal mandate to the 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.
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.
(With PTI inputs)
