Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pema Khandu on Thursday took oath as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the third consecutive term.

Chowna Mein was sworn in as the deputy chief minister. Ten other leaders took oath as state ministers. They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor KT Parnaik in Itanagar.

The ceremony was attended by Union ministers Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Kiren Rijiju, as well as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, among other dignitaries and state officials.

On Wednesday, Khandu was elected as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party, paving the way for him to retain the chief minister’s post.

In the recently-concluded state elections, the BJP won 46 out of the 60 Assembly seats, while the National People’s Party won in five constituencies. Three seats went to the Nationalist Congress Party, three to independents, two to the People’s Party of Arunachal and one to the Congress.

A party or coalition needs 31 seats to secure a majority in the state legislature.

On June 7, the National People’s Party extended its support to the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh. The Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma-led party is a member of the North East Democratic Alliance, which was formed in 2016 as a coalition of the BJP with regional parties in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim.

Khandu was among the 10 BJP candidates who were already elected unopposed to the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly from the Mukto constituency on March 30 before polling. Voting for the remaining 50 Assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats was held on April 19.

Khandu has been the state’s chief minister since 2016, when he was in the Congress. Mein has been the deputy chief minister since 2019.

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