BJP Set To Sweep Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Polls

The BJP is set to bag Arunachal Pradesh in the Assembly elections, making it the third state in the North East where the lotus will bloom. The party bagged Assam in 2016 and Tripura in 2018. Elections to the 32-member Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly were held along with the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections last month.

The BJP has already won 12 Assembly seats and has established an unassailable lead in eleven more. After the last date of filing nominations, two BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed. The Janata Dal (United) has won two seats and is leading in two more, while the Congress has bagged one and is leading in one more. Independents have bagged two seats and the People’s Party of Arunachal one seat.

The BJP is thus set to form the government in the frontier state and Pema Khandu will be sworn-in for his second term as chief minister. The BJP has been ruling the state since 2017, but it had not ‘won’ the last Assembly elections. The BJP formed the government after 30 legislators of the People’s Party of Arunachal—to which Pema Khandu belonged then—joined the saffron party.