Only three women made it to Arunachal Pradesh Assembly this year

ITANAGAR: 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 the 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).