Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pema Khandu will take oath as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the second term on Wednesday after his party won 41 seats in the 60-member Assembly in the recently concluded elections. The term of the outgoing assembly ends on June 1.

“I extend my gratitude to all the elected BJP MLAs of Arunachal Pradesh for unanimously selecting Pema Khandu ji as the leader of BJP Legislature Party,” party leader Kiren Rijiju tweeted. “Hearty congratulations to @PemaKhanduBJP ji who will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on 29th May 2019.”

Advertisement

Earlier on Monday, Khandu was elected the state BJP legislature party’s leader following which he met Governor Brigadier BD Mishra in the afternoon to stake claim to form the government and handed letter of support by the 41 state BJP MLAs. “The Governor requested Shri Khandu to advise and inform him about the names of others to be appointed as members of his Council of Ministers,” a government press release said.

On Sunday, the governor had accepted Khandu’s resignation and requested him and the council of ministers to continue till a new government is sworn in.

Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh were held for 57 seats as three BJP MLAs – Phurpa Tsering from Dirang Assembly seat, Taba Tedir from Yachuli and Kento Jini from Along East – were elected unopposed. The Janata Dal (United) won seven seats, the National People’s Party five, the Congress four, Independents two and the People’s Party of Arunachal managed to win just one seat.

The Congress had won the Assembly polls in the state in 2014 under its leader Nabam Tuki. However, following political crisis, Khandu took oath as the chief minister on July 17, 2016. On September 16 that year, Khandu, along with 43 MLAs from the ruling party, defected from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Tuki, however, remained with the Congress.