Arunachal bypolls: BJP wrests Pakke-Kessang, Likabali seats from Congress

Congress candidate Modam Dini could secure only 362 votes

Press Trust of India  |  Itanagar 

Representative image (Photo: Shutterstock)
Representative image (Photo: Shutterstock)

The on Sunday wrested both the and Assembly seats from the in the by-elections to these constituencies in

With this, the 60-member state Assembly now has 49 MLAs from the saffron party, nine from the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA), one and one Independent legislator.


B R Waghe of the won the seat by a narrow margin of 475 votes, defeating his lone rival and former deputy chief minister, of the

While Waghe polled 3,517 votes, Dolo bagged 3,042, Joint Chief Electoral Officer D J Bhattacharjee said.

In the seat, BJP's Kardo Nyigyor won by a slender margin of 305 votes, defeating his nearest rival, of the PPA.

While the candidate polled 3,461 votes, the PPA nominee secured 3,156 votes in the constituency, which witnessed a multi-cornered contest.

While candidate Modam Dini could secure only 362 votes, the lone Independent candidate, Sengo Taipodia, bagged 675 votes.

The constituency also saw 23 voters opting for NOTA, Bhattacharjee said.

Over 68.5 per cent electors had cast their votes in the December 21 bypolls, with recording an 86-per cent voter turnout and 51 per cent.

The seat had fallen vacant after then health and family welfare minister Jomde Kena passed away on September 4.

The seat fell vacant after the Gauhati High Court declared the election of Dolo from the constituency in the March 15, 2014 polls null and void, following an election petition filed by nominee and former minister Atum Welly.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju congratulated the members for the victory in the bypolls.

First Published: Sun, December 24 2017. 16:50 IST