Assembly Election 24: Massive win for BJP in Arunachal, SKM in Sikkim

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sikkim Kantikari Morcha (SKM) scored massive wins in the recently concluded Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim legislative assembly elections, respectively. According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 46 out of 60 legislative assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, while the SKM swept the Sikkim poll, winning 31 out of 32 seats of the Sikkim legislative assembly. 

The BJP returned to power for the third time in a row in Arunachal Pradesh, while the SKM was swept back to power.

Elections to the Arunachal and Sikkim Legislative Assembly were held on 9 April, along with the first phase of the national general election to elect a new 18th Lok Sabha. The votes for the Arunachal and Sikkim assemblies were counted on 2 June 2024, while the votes for the Lok Sabha will be counted on 4 June 2024. 

Legislative Assembly Election in Arunachal Pradesh 

The election to constitute the 11th Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly was held on 9 April 2024.

Arunachal Pradesh has a 60-member legislative assembly. However, the election was held for 50 seats, as 10 seats were won unopposed. All 10 seats, including the incumbent chief minister, Pema Kahandu’s Mukto constituency, were won by the BJP candidates,

No other candidate filed their nomination in these seats except the BJP candidates. Hence, the BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed.

Out of the 50 seats that went to the poll, the BJP won 36 seats, taking its overall tally to 46 . 

In the last election of 2019, BJP had won 41 seats in the Arunachal Assembly.

The BJP's vote share also increased from 50.9 per cent in 2019 to 54.8 per cent in 2024. 

The Congress party, which was in power in the state until its then-chief minister, Pema Khandu, switched to the BJP with 43 MLAs in 2016.

The Congress party won only one seat in the 2024 legislative assembly. 

The final result of the 2024 Arunachal Legislative Assembly election. 

The NPP, NCP, and the PPA are the allies of the BJP and are part of the National Democratic Alliance at the center.

SKM Sweep backs to Power in Sikkim 

The Sikkim Kantikari Morcha (SKM), led by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, won a landslide victory in the 2024 Sikkim legislative assembly election. The SKM won 31 out of the 32 assembly seats. In the 2019 Assembly, SKM had 17 seats.

Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang won comfortably from his Rhenock seat, defeating SDF’s Som Nath Poudyal by 7,044 votes. 

The election to constitute the 11th Sikkim Legislative Assembly was held on 19 April 2024.  

Loss for five-time former CM Pawan Chamling 

Five-time Sikkim chief minister and eight-time MLA Pawan Kumar Chamling of the Sikkim Democratic Front lost from both Poklok Kamrang and Namcheybung assembly constituencies. Pawan Chamling was the chief minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019.

Pawan Chamling is India's longest-serving chief minister. He was chief minister of Sikkim for more than 24 years. Naveen Patnaik, of Biju Janata Dal and incumbent chief minister of Odisha, is India's second longest-serving chief minister.

Famous former  Indian football player Baichung Bhutia, who contested the assembly election on the SDF ticket, lost the election.

The final result of the 2024 Sikkim Legislative Assembly election 

2024 Assembly elections 

Assembly elections were held in four states along with the general election to constitute the 18th Lok Sabha in April -June 2024.

The elections to elect a new state assembly were held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha.

Initially, the Election Commission of India announced that the votes for the assembly election would be counted on 4 June along with the Lok Sabha. Later, the Election Commission changed the counting date for the Arunachal and Sikkim assemblies to 2 June, as the term of the present Legislative Assembly in these two states was to end on 2 June 2024.