BJP's Kiren Rijiju, Tapir Gao win Arunachal Pradesh Lok Sabha seats

Union minister Kiren Rijiju and another BJP candidate Tapir Gao won the two Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh, according to the Election Commission. Both retained the seat.

Rijiju won the Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat, defeating his nearest rival Nabam Tuki of the Congress by a margin of 1,00,738 votes, the Election Commission said.

The BJP nominee polled 2,05,417 votes while Tuki, a former chief minister, bagged 1,04,679 votes.


In 2019, the union minister had won the seat by a margin of 1,74,843 votes.

Rijiju, the Earth Sciences Minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet has been representing the Arunachal Pradesh West seat since 2004, except for one term. He lost to Congress' Takam Sanjay in 2009.

BJP MP Tapir Gao won the Arunachal East Parliamentary Constituency defeating his nearest rival Bosiram Siram of the Congress by a margin of 30,421 votes.

Gao secured 1,45,581 votes while Siram bagged 1,15,160 votes.

Polling in the two constituencies in the state bordering China was held in the first phase on April 19, along with assembly polls in the northeastern state.

In the assembly elections, the ruling BJP won 46 seats in the 60-member assembly followed by the National People's Party (NPEP) in five, NCP in three seats, the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) in two seats, Congress in one and independent candidates won in three seats respectively.