New Delhi: With the counting of votes concluding for assembly elections held in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim on April 19, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), have returned to power in the two north-eastern states respectively.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Having pocketed 46 of the state’s 60 assembly seats by his party, it is only a matter of time before BJP leader Pema Khandu would be sworn in by the governor as Arunachal Pradesh’s 10th chief minister. This would be Khandu’s third term as chief minister, including a full term after the BJP won in the 2019 assembly polls. Khandu’s father, Dorjee Khandu, had also served as the state chief minister between 2007 and 2011 before he died in a helicopter crash.
While Khandu was among the 10 MLAs of the BJP to have won unopposed before the state went to polls, the rest of the 36 candidates of the party have been declared winners by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after counting of votes today. Though the ECI had initially announced that the counting of votes in both these north-eastern states would coincide with the general elections on June 4, it later advanced the date to June 2, keeping in mind the end of term of both the houses today. Counting of votes on a day when the term of the assemblies is ending is a rare phenomenon noted in a state elections.
Soon after the results were out, Khandu took to X to formally congratulate each of his party’s winners besides thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his congratulatory note on social media. Among the winners are two women MLAs — Nyabi Jini Dirchi (from Basar) and Chakat Aboh (from Khonsa West).
Among other winners in the state today are National People’s Party (NPP) — from Tawang, Liromoba, Pasighat (East), Mariyang and Longing-Pumao; Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — from Yachuli, Lekang and Bordumsa-Diyun; besides three Independents — Tenzin Nima Glow from Thrizino-Buragaon; Laisam Simai from Nampong; and Wanglam Sawin from Khonsa (East).
One of the NPP’s biggest wins today is the Tawang seat. Considered a stronghold of the Khandu family, Tawang was won by Khandu’s relative Tsering Tashi in 2014 and 2019. Today though, the seat was won by the NPP’s Namgey Tsering. Tsering Dorjee contested the seat as the BJP candidate in this election.
The Congress which had contested 34 seats in these elections, could win only one seat with former minister Kumar Waii winning the Bameng seat for the grand old party.
Sikkim
For Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang, today’s massive win of 31 of the 32 assembly seats is strong approval of his last five years at the helm. In the 2019 assembly elections, even though SKM went on to form a government, it barely touched the majority mark by winning 17 seats against the 15 clinched by its formidable opponent, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). The SDF only won one seat today with Tenzing Norbu Mamtha winning the Shyari seat for SDF. The party’s vote share has come down substantially, from 47.63% to 27.37%.
On the other hand, SKM’s vote share has touched a whopping 58.38%. Tamang himself won both the seats — Rhenock (by 10,094 votes), and Soreng-Chakung (by 10,480 votes). His wife, Krishna Kumari Rai was declared the winner from the Nacho-Singhithang seat. Bimal Rai of the SDF lost to her by 5,302 votes.
Responding to Prime Minister Modi’s congratulations on X, Tamang thanked his “unwavering support”, and stated that his government is “committed to continuing our efforts towards the development and prosperity of Sikkim.”
These elections in Sikkim also made history — the state’s longest serving chief minister and SDF leader Pawan Kumar Chamling lost an election for the first time. Chamling lost from both the seats he was contesting — Poklok-Kamrang by 3,063 votes and Namchaybong by 2,256 votes. It will be the first time in 39 years that Chamling will not step inside the state legislative assembly as an MLA.
Former ace footballer, Bhaichung Bhutia was defeated by Rikshal Dorjee of the SKM by 4,346 votes. Bhutia had contested the polls as an SDF candidate.
The BJP failed to open an account in the Sikkim assembly this time too. Like in the last elections, the national party had contested these state polls without an alliance with its NDA partner, SKM. Interestingly though, in the last assembly, BJP went on to become the single largest opposition party in Sikkim after 10 SDF MLAs had shifted over to it. Some other SDF MLAs had also left the party to join other parties including SKM — eventually leaving only party chief and former chief minister Chamling as the lone representative of SDF in the opposition benches.
As per ECI data, even though the BJP failed to win a single seat in Sikkim, it managed to expand its vote share from 1.62% in 2019 to 5.18%. After failing to win any seats in the recent Mizoram assembly polls, this is the second north-eastern state where BJP, inspite of being in power at the Centre, has failed to win a single seat.
