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All 60 Assembly Constituencies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 72%[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Arunachal Pradesh District Map | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheArunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election of 2009 took place in October 2009, concurrently with the assembly elections inMaharashtra andHaryana. The elections were held in the state for all 60 Assembly seats on 2009-10-13. The results were declared on 2009-10-22.Chief MinisterDorjee Khandu'sIndian National Congress party came back to power in the state with an increased majority, winning 42 seats in the 60 seat Assembly.
In the2004 Arunachal Pradesh Assembly election, Congress won 34 of the 60 seats and Congress leaderGegong Apang was elected as the Congress Legislative Party and was sworn in as the Chief Minister.[2] Apang had defected from theBharatiya Janata Party just a few weeks before the election. The BJP won win 9 seats.
However, in April 2007, 29 Congress legislators formally supported a change of leadership in the state Congress. The dissidents also claimed support from 2 NCP, 1Arunachal Congress and 11 independent legislators.[3] Apang, Arunachal's longest serving chief minister, was forced to step down on 2007-04-09 when the Congress legislators elected Power Minister Dorjee Khandu as the new Congress Legislative Party leader.[4] Khandu was sworn in as the state's seventh Chief Minister byNagaland GovernorK. Sankaranarayanan on 2007-04-10.[5]
In June of the same year, Khandu's Government received further strengthening when 8 out of the 9 BJP MLAs joined Congress, taking the strength of the party to 41.[6]
The tenure of the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly was scheduled to expire on 2009-10-24. So theElection Commission of India announced[7] on 2009-08-31 that the election to the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly would be held in October 2009.
ThoughNationalist Congress Party andAll India Trinamool Congress were Congress' allies at the Centre, in Arunachal Pradesh, they fought the election against Congress. The BJP was also in the fray in Arunachal, having formed their 1st Government in the North-East after Apang and his supporters had joined the BJP in August 2003.[8]
| Poll Event | Dates |
|---|---|
| Announcement & Issue of Press Note | Monday, 31 Aug 2009 |
| Issue of Notification | Friday, 18 Sep 2009 |
| Last Date for filing Nominations | Friday, 25 Sep 2009 |
| Scrutiny of Nominations | Saturday, 26 Sep 2009 |
| Last date for withdrawal of Candidature | Tuesday, 29 Sep 2009 |
| Date of Poll | Tuesday, 13 Oct 2009 |
| Counting of Votes on | Thursday, 22 Oct 2009 |
| Date of election being completed | Sunday, 25 Oct 2009 |
| Constituencies Polling on this day | 60 |
| Source:Election Commission of India[7] | |
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Seats contested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress |  |  | Nabam Tuki | 60 | |
| Nationalist Congress Party |  |  | P. A. Sangma | 36 | |
| All India Trinamool Congress |  |  | Mamata Banerjee | 26 | |
| Bharatiya Janata Party |  |  | Kiren Rijiju | 18 | |
| People's Party of Arunachal |  | 11 | |||
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parties and Coalitions | Popular vote | Seats | |||||
| Vote | % | +/- | Contested | Won | +/- | ||
| Indian National Congress | 2,89,501 | 50.38 | 60 | 42 | |||
| Nationalist Congress Party | 1,11,098 | 19.33 | 36 | 5 | |||
| All India Trinamool Congress | 86,406 | 15.04 | 26 | 5 | |||
| People's Party of Arunachal | 41,780 | 7.27 | 11 | 4 | |||
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 29,929 | 5.21 | 18 | 3 | |||
| Janata Dal (United) | 3,584 | 0.62 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Independents | 12,364 | 2.15 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Total | 5,74,662 | 100.00 | 60 | 100.00 | ±0 | ||
Source:[9]
The Congress party won 42 of the 60 seats in the Assembly, including 3uncontested seats -Dorjee Khandu from Mukto,Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang andJambey Tashi fromLumla. Seasoned Congressman, seven times MLA and former chief minister,Gegong Apang, and his sonOmak Apang both lost the elections. While Gegong lost toNationalist Congress Party, his son was defeated byBharatiya Janata Party candidate.[10] Without the competition from Gegong,Dorjee Khandu was smoothly elected as the Congress Legislative Party leader on 2009-10-24.[11]
Khandu was sworn in for his 2nd term as the Chief Minister byGovernorJoginder Jaswant Singh at the Darbar Hall of theItanagar Raj Bhawan on 2009-10-25.[12]
