Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his deputy Chowna Mein are among 10 BJP candidates who were elected unopposed in the state assembly polls, an official said on Saturday.
Khandu and nine others were elected unopposed following the closure of the nomination withdrawal period, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain told reporters here. Khandu was the only person to file a nomination from the Mukto assembly constituency in Tawang district, while Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein won the Chowkham seat uncontested after his lone rival Bayamso Kri of the Congress withdrew his nomination on Saturday, he said.
Single nomination paper has been filed in six assembly constituencies while in four others, opposition candidates withdrew their papers, he said. This will be Khandu's fourth term as an MLA from the Mukto assembly constituency near the India-China border. He was elected unopposed from the seat in a by-election in 2010 as a Congress nominee, following the demise of his father and former chief minister Dorjee Khandu in a helicopter crash. The chief minister also won the seat in the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections by huge margins.
The deputy chief minister was elected from the Chowkham constituency for the second time. Mein, a seasoned politician, had previously represented the Lekang constituency since 1995. The other candidates, who were elected unopposed, are Jikke Tako from the Tali assembly constituency, Nyato Dukom from Taliha, Mutchu Mithi from Roing, Dasanglu Pul from Hayuliang, Dongru Siongju for Bomdila and first-timers Ratu Techi from Sagalee and Hage Appa from Ziro-Hapoli constituencies.
BJP nominee Techi Kaso won the Itanagar constituency unopposed after National People's Party (NPP) candidate Tai Tadap's nomination was found invalid.
Elections to other constituencies of the 60-member assembly and two Lok Sabha seats -- Arunachal West and Arunachal East -- will be held on April 19. In the 2019 assembly polls, three BJP nominees -- Education Minister Taba Tedir from Yachuli constituency, Kento Jini from Aalo East and Phurpa Tsering from Dirang -- were elected unopposed.
They are seeking re-election from their respective constituencies this time. Meanwhile, fourteen candidates will try their luck from the two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state. Eight candidates will contest the Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency from where Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Nabam Tuki are in the fray.
The total number of candidates, contesting in the Arunachal East parliamentary constituency, is six after the nomination of Techi Rana, an independent candidate, was found invalid during scrutiny on Thursday, the official said. The counting of votes for the assembly polls will take place on June 2, while the Lok Sabha election results will be declared on June 4.
