Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Arunachal Pradesh phase 1 voting underway. Here are the key candidates

India is gearing up for one of its biggest elections in the upcoming month with 28 states and eight Union Territories going to polls. The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections are set to begin on April 19, with many states going for the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha Polls.

Arunachal Pradesh will also go in simultaneous elections on April 19, officials announced on March 31. A total of 133 candidates will contest polls for the 50 Assembly constituencies in the state. The ruling-state party BJP has already won 10 seats of the 60-member assembly uncontested. Among those who won are Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and the first two-time candidates - Ratu Techi and Hage Appa from Sagalee and Ziro-Hapoli seats consecutively.

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Arunachal Pradesh has only two constituencies - Arunachal West and Arunachal East.

In the 2014 elections, Kiren Rijiju of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in the Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency, defeating Nabam Tuki of the Indian National Congress (INC).

Tapir Gao from the BJP clinched victory in the Arunachal East Lok Sabha constituency triumphing over Lowangcha Wanglat of the INC by a significant margin of 69,948 votes.

Here are the key candidates contesting elections in Arunachal Pradesh:

Arunachal Pradesh Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Key candidates

Kiren Rijiju is the current cabinet minister of Earth and Sciences in the NDA government since 2023. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2014, representing Arunachal West. Earlier, he served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs from 2014 to 2019. He also served as the Law Minister from 2021 to 2023.

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His tenure as Law Minister was marked by controversies. In 2022, Kiren called the collegium system of appointment of judges in the Indian judicial system “opaque”, implying that appointments are done on personal networks rather than merit.

TapirGao leads the BJP unit in Arunachal East in the state. He was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha representing the Arunachal East constituency for BJP. He lost that seat in 2009 and 2014 but was elected to Lok Sabha for the second time in 2019. Gao was also the General Secretary of the BJP in 2011 and is currently a national executive member of the BJP.

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In February 2020, in the Lok Sabha, he raised the issue of several areas in Arunachal Pradesh being left out from the political map of India. This included "Hadigra Dakahru Pass, Galai Tagaru Pass... in Chaglagam area."

Nabam Tuki is associated with the Congress party and represents Arunachal West constituency. He has also served as the former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (2011- 2016). In June 2021, he was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly awarding contracts to his relative without following proper channels during his tenure as the Minister of Public Works Department and Urban Development in Arunachal Pradesh.

(With inputs from agencies)