Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024: Pema Khandu elected BJP legislature party leader, set to become CM for third term

Guwahati: Ten days after sweeping the Assembly elections, newly elected BJP MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday elected Pema Khandu as the legislature party leader, setting the stage for his swearing-in on Thursday.

Khandu, who has been serving as the CM since 2016, was unanimously elected as the leader of the legislature party in a meeting at Itanagar. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Chugh were present in the meeting as BJP's central observers.

"With utmost humility, I accept the responsibility of leading the BJP to another term of development oriented governance in sync with the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. Now, let's work together harder to further speed up the pace of all-round growth in Arunachal Pradesh and realize the goal of inclusive Viksit Bharat by 2047," Khandu posted on social media on Wednesday evening after he was elected as leader of the legislature party.

BJP swept the Assembly elections by winning 46 out of 60 seats, paving the way for formation of the government for the third term. The results were announced on June 2 but the new government waited for the swearing-in of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Two other allies of BJP, National People's Party (NPP) and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), came second and third by winning five and three seats, respectively. The opposition People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) managed to better its 2019 tally, from one to two seats. Three Independent candidates were declared winners. The Congress, which was in power till Khandu's defection to BJP in 2016, managed to win only one out of the 19 seats it contested this time.

Polling was conducted for 50 seats as 10 sitting BJP MLAs including CM Khandu and deputy CM Chowna Mein were elected uncontested.

Arunachal Pradesh was a Congress stronghold till 2016 when Pema Khandu, who got elected from Congress in 2014, defected to People's Party of Arunachal first and then to BJP along with 43 MLAs giving the saffron party its first full-fledged government. Khandu-led BJP government got re-elected in 2019 with 41 seats while several legislators belonging to JD-U and NPP also switched over to BJP later. JD (U), however, did not contest the elections this time.

Khandu, now 44, is a graduate in history from the Hindu College under Delhi University. A Buddhist by faith, Khandu, belongs to the Monpa tribe, primarily living in Tawang, a district which shares a border with China.

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