Arunachal Assembly Elections 2024: Pema Khandu set to be CM for 3rd time

Pema Khandu, the incumbent Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh is set to become the Chief Minister for the third straight term as BJP has established a formidable lead in 44 of the 60 seats of the Arunachal Assembly. The party had won 10 seats, including the Mukto seat represented Pema Khandu, unopposed.

Khandu was first sworn in as the CM of Arunachal Pradesh in 2016 following a year-long power struggle between former CMs Nabam Tuki (Cong) and Kalikho Pul (PPA). He won the Mukto seat again in the 2019 Assembly Polls and retained the Chief Ministership of the frontier state that border China.

Born on 21 August 1979, Khandu, was sworn in as the CM of the eastern most state of India bordering China on 17 July, 2016. He was just 37 years old. He became the youngest CM of India.

Assembly Constituency: Mukto. This seat is a family bastion for Pema Khandu. Pema’s father, former CM of Arunachal Pradesh, Dorjee Khandu had won from Mukto 5 times in 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2009 as Congress candidate.

Pema Khandu won the seat for the first time in 2011 unopposed after the death of his father in a chopper crash on 30 April 2011. He won the seat again unopposed in 2014. In 2011 and 2014 he won the seat as Congress candidate. He won the seat for the third time in 2019 as a BJP candidate. He will be contesting for the fourth time.

Political Career: Pema Khandu became a secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005 and the Tawang District Congress Committee president in 2010. His life in politics took a big turn when his father Dorjee Khandu died in a chopper crash in 2011. He was elected unopposed to the Arunachal Assembly from Mukto on 30 June 2011 as a Congress candidate.

He had served as water resources and tourism minister in the Jarbom Gamlin Government that was in power for just 180 days from 5 May 2011 to 1 November 2011.

Pema Khandu was again inducted as cabinet minister on 1st June, 2014 in the Nabam Tuki Government.
Pema Khandu has been a Congress politician till September 2016. In September 2016 he left Congress and joined Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA). In three months he left PPA and in December 2016 he joined BJP and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on 17 July 2016 following a year-long power struggle between former CMs Nabam Tuki (Cong) and Kalikho Pul (PPA).

Educational Qualification: Pema Khandu is a History Graduate from Hindu College, Delhi University. He did his schooling from Government Secondary School in Bomba, Tawang. He completed his Higher Secondary education from Donyi-Polo Vidya Bhavan, Itanagar in 1997.

Personal Life: Pema Khandu is the eldest son of former Arunachal chief minister Dorjee Khandu. He hails from Gyangkhar village in Tawang district that borders China. He belongs to the Monpa tribe. He has four children – two sons and two daughters.