Today in Politics: Stage set for results of Arunachal, Sikkim Assembly polls; Kejriwal back in Tihar Jail

Hyderabad's 10-year deadline as the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ends amid uncertainty over Andhra’s future capital

Kejriwal has announced he will leave his residence to return to Tihar Jail at 3 pm on Sunday. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

The Election Commission (EC) is set to announce the results of the Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim following the counting of votes on Sunday, more than a month after the two Northeastern states went to simultaneous polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19.

Though the Assembly poll results for both states were initially scheduled for June 4 along with the outcome of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in rest of the country, the EC revised it for Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim to June 2 since the terms of the two Assemblies come to an end on this day itself.

However, the results for these states’ Lok Sabha seats remain scheduled for June 4.

In Arunachal, just 50 of the 60 Assembly seats went to polls after 10 BJP MLAs, including outgoing Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy CM Chowna Mein, were “elected unopposed”.

The no-contests are a clear sign of the near-complete dominance of the political space in the state by the incumbent BJP, as reported by Sukrita Baruah.

In 2019, the BJP had won a comfortable majority with 41 seats and 50.86% vote share. Among the BJP allies who won seats were the Bihar-based Janata Dal (United) with seven seats and 9.88% vote share and the regional National People’s Party at five seats and 14.56% vote share. While the Congress had won four seats from 16.85% vote share, the local People’s Party of Arunachal had won one seat with 1.73% vote share. Two Independents had also won.

In the election to the 32-member Sikkim Assembly, the incumbent Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) is pitted against the principal Opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). While the ruling SKM is confident about being re-elected for a consecutive second term, the SDF also claims it will make a “historic comeback” by clinching the polls.

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In 2019, while the SKM, a BJP ally, had won 17 seats with 47.03% votes, the SDF had managed 15 seats despite a slightly higher vote share at 47.63%. Prem Singh Tamang, the incumbent CM, had been a member of the SDF, led by former CM Pawan Chamling, before leaving it to form his own party SKM in 2013.

Kejriwal interim bail ends

With AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bail in the excise policy case ending on Saturday, he is set to return to jail now.

Kejriwal has announced he will leave his residence to return to Tihar Jail at 3 pm on Sunday.

On Friday, Kejriwal said he was “proud” of going to jail to “save the country from dictatorship” even as he asked the people of the national capital to “take care of my parents” just as he, as the “son” of each household in the city, sought to take care of them. He also said it was possible that he would be “tortured” in jail.

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Kejriwal had approached the Supreme Court for extension of his interim bail for doctors to assess his health and sudden weight loss after his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. According to the AAP leaders, he lost 6-7 kg while he had been in prison.

The apex court did not hear the matter following which Kejriwal applied for interim bail and regular bail in a Delhi court. On Saturday, the city court reserved for June 5 its order on Kejriwal’s application seeking interim bail on medical grounds.

Hyderabad deadline expires

The capital issue between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has again come to the fore, with the deadline set by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 for Hyderabad to be the joint capital of the two states ending on June 2, 2024, as reported by Sreenivas Janyala.

Andhra Pradesh is yet to have a capital city, with the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government’s three-capital proposal having failed to take off.

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Both the incumbent YSRCP and the principal Opposition TDP have been raking up the issue in their campaign for the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

While the TDP says it would continue on its path of developing Amaravati — its chosen capital when it came to power in 2014 — should it come to power, the YSRCP has stuck to its three-capital pledge.

Meanwhile, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in Telangana has added a fresh twist to the issue. Recently, senior BRS leader and ex-minister K T Rama Rao claimed that if the BJP-led NDA returns to power at the Centre, it may amend the AP Reorganisation Act and turn Hyderabad into a Union Territory (UT).

It is unclear what will happen after the end of the Sunday deadline. If Jagan or Naidu clinches the Assembly polls, what happens to their respective three-capital proposal or Amaravati plan remains to be seen. The outcome of the polls, scheduled for June 4, will have a critical bearing on the issue.

– With PTI inputs