Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu elected unopposed
Deputy CM Chowna Mein among 10 BJP candidates win Assembly polls
Chief Minister 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.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu, a former Congressman, had earlier won unopposed in 2014 and 2011 in a bypoll.
In the process, the BJP is almost set to get a cakewalk to power yet again in politically sensitive border state of Arunachal Pradesh. A sixth of the 60-member state Assembly has been elected unopposed.
In 2014, 11 candidates had won without an election but then it was a Congress show. Table has simply turned.
It is more common for MLAs to win unopposed than Lok Sabha MPs. Since the first elections in 1952, 298 MLAs and 28 MPs won their seats in the absence of any opponent.
In Assemblies, Nagaland leads the way with the most MLAs elected unopposed at 77, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 63, and Arunachal Pradesh at 40.
In 1962, the Assembly polls in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and the erstwhile Mysore state and J&K saw the most state legislators elected unopposed in a single year at 47. After that, the highest tallies for a single year came in 1998 at 45, and in 1967 and 1972 at 33 each.
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Elections to remaining 50 constituencies of the 60-member assembly and two Lok Sabha seats will be held on April 19, the first day of polling in this year's battle.
Single nomination paper has been filed in six assembly constituencies while in four others, opposition candidates including from Congress withdrew their papers.
Records and statistics :
The Congress has, by far, had the most MLAs elected unopposed at 194, followed by the National Conference (NC) at 34, and the BJP at 15. Twenty-nine Independents have also been elected unopposed to date. Khandu and former J&K CM Syed Mir Qasim have been elected unopposed a record three times each.
Khandu’s Mukto Assembly seat has seen the most instances of an MLA elected unopposed at five. Before Khandu, his father and former CM Dorjee Khandu won the seat unopposed in 1990 and 2009.
'Uncontested to Lok Sabha' - Old record
Since 1952, J&K has seen the most MPs elected unopposed at four. Only eight states have sent more than one legislator to Parliament uncontested, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
The most MPs elected unopposed in a single election came in 1952, 1957, and 1967 at five each. The most recent unopposed election was in a 2012 bypoll, when Dimple Yadav, the wife of Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh, won Kannauj in UP unopposed. Before that, the last time an MP won uncontested was in 1995.
In terms of MPs, too, the Congress has seen the most get elected unopposed at 20. The NC and SP follow with two each. Just one Independent has won the parliamentary election unopposed. There is no BJP candidate on this list, reports 'Indian Express'.
Notably, only two Lok Sabha seats have seen an MP elected unopposed more than once – Sikkim and Srinagar.
Among the notable MPs who were elected unopposed are former Deputy Prime Minister and Maharashtra CM Y B Chavan from Nasik; former J&K CM and NC chief Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar; former Nagaland CM and ex-Governor of four states S C Jamir; Odisha’s first CM Harekrushna Mahatab from Angul; former member of the Constituent Assembly T T Krishnamachari from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchendur; and former Union Ministers P M Sayeed from Lakshadweep and K L Rao from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.
Veteran Naga leader S C Jamir was nominated as the first Lok Sabha Member from the state of Nagaland in year 1961. This was part of peace efforts and formation of the new state. Statehood was granted to Nagaland from Dec 1, 1963
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Modi vis a vis BJP won't be voted out. It's not about whether they will win the election or not but with how many votes they will win it(300+,350+,400+). Modi is the strongest leader since Indira Gandhi.The West and China will try to cause instability as they have their own concerns . The first signs of erosion of democracy is the slow dismantling of opposition and the institutions. The west is pointing to it and there might be a case for it. But under Modi we might hope for a more stable India. It doesn't matter if India becomes a country ruled by a strongman or not. For eg. UAE has shown how a rigid political structure can gel well with investors and bring prosperity to the country.
ReplyDelete- Jeet Acharya, author of book 'Sheli ji mera Naani'