POLL-AR-ASY-WOMEN

Three women candidates win Arunachal Pradesh Assembly election
    Itanagar, May 25 (PTI) In Arunachal Pradesh, women
outnumber male voters, but only three women could make it to
the 60-member Assembly this time.
    The border state has a total electorate of 7,94,162
with 4,01,601 women voters and 3,92,561 men, an election
official said.
    The number of women contestants in Arunachal Pradesh
Assembly election this year was 11. In 2014 election the
number of women who contested the state polls was seven.
    The three women candidates who won the Assembly
elections this year are all from the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) with two of them retaining their seats.
    Of the 11 women candidates, the Congress had fielded
five, the ruling BJP three, while the People's Party of
Arunachal (PPA) and the JD(U) 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.
    Dasanglu Pul, wife of former Chief Minister Kalilkho
Pul won from the Hayuliang seat in remote Anjaw district by
defeating her lone rival Lupalum Kri of the Congress by a
margin of 1,332 votes.
    BJP's new comer women candidate 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 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 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.
    Simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were
held in the remote northeastern state on April 11.
    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 women 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). PTI UPL
RG RG