On Sunday, June 02, the results of the assembly elections in the states of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh were announced. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) won the elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
BJP’s Arunachal Pradesh victory
The BJP retained power in Arunachal Pradesh by winning 46 out of 60 seats in the Assembly elections. The Party won 10 seats uncontested.
In the results on Sunday, the BJP not only better its tally from 41 seats to 46 seats in 2024 from 2019. The party also saw an increase in vote share to 54.57 percent from 51 percent in the last assembly elections. The National People’s Party (NPP) is the second largest party today with 5 seats out of 60.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), despite losing its “national party” status last year, won three seats and secured a vote share of 10.43 per cent. The Congress managed to win only one seat, while the PPA won two.
Among the 10 BJP candidates who won without contesting in AP was Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who won from Mukto seat. The other uncontested seats were Itanagar, Bomdila, Chowkham, Hayuliang, Roing, Sagalee, Tali, Taliha, and Ziro Hapoli. The remaining 50 seats, along with Arunachal’s two Lok Sabha seats, went to polls on April 19.
The party came to power in December 2016 in AP for the first time, marking the third term since. BJP first won 11 seats in 2014 against INC’s 42 but came to power in 2016 when 33 MLAs from the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA), led by present CM Khandu, joined the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also thanked the people for “reposing their faith” in the BJP.
Thank you Arunachal Pradesh! The people of this wonderful state have given an unequivocal mandate to politics of development. My gratitude to them for reposing their faith in @BJP4Arunachal yet again. Our Party will keep working with even greater vigour for the state’s growth.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 2, 2024
SKM wins Sikkim
The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on June 2 again won in the Himalayan state of Sikkim. Elections to the assembly were held simultaneously with the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.
The SKM clinched 31 out of 32 seats, as per the results announced by the Election Commission of India. The party’s triumphant return to power in the state was marked by landscape victory. The opposition Sikkim Democratic Front faced a crushing defeat winning only one seat in the Shyari seat with candidate Tenzing Norbu Lamtha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated SKM chief Prem Singh Tamang for his party’s victory and said he looks forward to working with the state government for Sikkim’s progress.
“Our Party will always be at the forefront of working towards Sikkim’s development and fulfilling people’s aspirations,” he said.
I thank all those who voted for @BJP4Sikkim in the Assembly Elections. I also appreciate the efforts put in by our Karyakartas. Our Party will always be at the forefront of working towards Sikkim’s development and fulfilling people’s aspirations.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 2, 2024
The BJP chose to go alone in the polls after the seat-sharing talks with SKM broke down on the latter’s reluctance to meet the BJP’s demand for a respectable number of seats. The party contested 31 seats and lost all the seats. They could only secure 5.18 percent of votes while SKM got 58.58 percent votes.
Other parties vying for seats included the Congress, and Citizen Action Party-Sikkim (CAP-S). The counting process took place at six locations across six districts, with stringent security measures in place starting from 6 a.m.
