Results of the 2024 Lok Sabha election: Kiren Rijiju of the BJP leads from the Arunachal Pradesh West seat

Early results indicate that Kiren Rijiju of the BJP is ahead in the West constituency of Arunachal Pradesh while the ballots are being counted.In the Lok Sabha election, which is scheduled to have results on Tuesday, Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister of Earth Sciences and Food Processing Industries, was leading from the West constituency of Arunachal Pradesh.According to preliminary results, Congressman Nabam Tuki, who the BJP leader had previously defeated in 2019 by a vote margin of 48.8%, was the closest challenger for the seat. According to the ECI, as of 10:45 am, Rijiju leads Tuki by a margin of 55,731 votes.Toko Sheetal of the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP), Ruhi Tangung of Janata Dal (United), and independent candidates Bimpak Siga, Leki Norbu, Techi Rana, and Tania June were among the other candidates in the election.Rijiju received 63.02% of the vote in 2019, compared to 14.22% for his opponent Nabam Tuki. Congress MP Takam Sanjoy lost the constituency to the Union minister in 2014.Voters in the first phase of the Arunachal West seat, which consists of 33 scheduled tribe reserved constituencies, turned out to be 70.11% of the total. Three-time Member of Parliament Rijiju assumed the Law Ministry in July 2021 after serving as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports from May 2019 to July 2021.As the minister of law, Rijiju frequently clashed with the legal system. Rijiju asserted during the November 2022 India Today summit that judges don't always recommend the best candidate for a position; rather, they only recommend the people they know for appointments and promotions.

The BJP minister stated his opinion that the people of the nation should make judgments about significant issues like the institution of marriage rather than having them decided by judges during a hearing on same-sex marriages held by the Supreme Court in April 2023.Prime Minister Narendra Modi transferred Rijiju to the Ministry of Earth Sciences and named Arjun Ram Meghwal as the new Minister of Law and Justice one month later, in May.Rijiju established four new meteorological centers, launched a website called green alerts to disseminate weather-related information to the agricultural community, and pledged to see Maitri-II, India's recently proposed research station in Antarctica, built by 2029 after assuming the position of Minister of Earth Sciences in 2023.