With the counting of votes underway in Arunachal Pradesh for the Assembly elections, as of 10:00 pm, the BJP is leading in 34 seats, the Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) is leading in three seats, the Indian National Congress (INC) also leads in three seats and the JD(U) is leading in 11 seats.
The 60-member state Assembly has been a bastion of the Congress for years. Although the fight in most constituencies is between the BJP and Congress, there is a presence of regional parties like the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA), Nationalist People’s Party, JD(U) and JD(S).
Currently, the BJP is ruling the state. While the Congress had won the Assembly elections in 2014, 33 of its 44 MLAs led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu first joined the PPA and then merged into the BJP in 2016 to form the government.
The elections for the Assembly seats and two Parliamentary constituencies were simultaneously held on 11 April, during the first phase of the 2019 general elections.
Arunachal Pradesh has a total of 60 Assembly seats, all of which are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. Until the 2014 state elections, one constituency – Bordumsa - Diyum – was unreserved, but now it is also an ST seat. It has an estimated ST population of 79.68 per cent.
A total of 181 candidates are contesting the Assembly elections, including from the Congress, BJP, NPP, Janata Dal (United) People’s Party of Arunachal, as well as independents. The BJP has fielded candidates in 57 assembly seats while Congress is contesting in 46 seats, the NPP in 30 seats, JD(U) in 15 constituencies, JD(S) in 12 and PPA in nine.
It is a three-corner fight for the two Parliamentary constituencies, with Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Arunachal Pradesh Congress chief Nabam Tuki, and the state’s BJP chief Tapir Gao as the key contenders.
Watch our live election space for every minute update on the big counting day.
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