Three Women Legislators Elected For Arunachal Assembly

Our Correspondent

Itanagar: In Arunachal Pradesh, where women voters outnumber male voters, only three women could make it to the 60-member Assembly from among the total eleven contested in the Assembly poll this time.

The number of women contestants in Arunachal Pradesh had increased in comparison to the figure of 2014 Assembly polls which was 7. All the winners are from the ruling BJP and out of them two are old faces, one is a newcomer.

Of the 11 Assembly poll contestants, the Congress had fielded five women candidates, the ruling BJP nominated three, while the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) and the (JDU) selected one each.

While sitting MLA Gum Tayeng (BJP) retained the Dambuk seat in Lower Dibang Valley district by defeating her nearest rival Tony Pertin of the National People’s Party (NPP) by 852 votes, another old face Dasanglu Pul, wife of former Chief Minister Kalilkho Pul won from the Hayuliang seat in remote Anjaw district defeating her lone rival Lupalum Kri of the Congress by a margin of 1,332 votes.

BJP’s newcomer Jummum Ete Deori turned to be a giant killer for the party as she defeated Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Takam Sanjoy from Lekang constituency in Namsai district by a massive margin of 5,493 votes in a multi-cornered contest.

Jummum is the daughter-in-law of former Rajya Sabha member from the state Omem Moyong Deori. Gum Tayeng was elected unopposed as a Congress nominee from Dambuk in a by-election in 2013 following the death of her husband - then sitting MLA Jomin Tayeng.

She also retained the seat in 2014 Assembly polls. She also retained the seat in 2014 as a Congress nominee.

Dasanglu Pul had won the by-election from Hayuliang Assembly seat as a BJP candidate during 2016 following her husband committing suicide on August 9, 2016.

One of the two Lok Sabha seats in the State also had a woman candidate who lost. Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections was held in the Northeastern state on April 11 while counting took place on May 23 last.

Arunachal Pradesh voted several women representatives to the State Assembly in the past.

Sibo Kai was the first woman legislator after she was nominated to the assembly in 1978 when the state was a Union Territory.

Nyari Welly was the first elected woman MLA of the state when she won on a PPA ticket in 1980. She was re-elected in 1984 as a Congress candidate.

Other woman MLAs include O M Deori (1990), Komoli Mosang (1990), Yadap Apang (1995), Mekup Dolo (1999), Niani Natung (2001), Yari Dulom (2002), Nang Sati Mein and Karya Bagang (2009). Some of these legislators won in by-elections.

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