Arunachal Pradesh may have well made a record of sorts in defection. The final list of candidates shows that no less than 50 candidates have switched loyalties this Assembly election.

Leading the list are 20 Independents of the 2004 elections who have been nominated by different parties for the October 13 elections — with the Congress alone fielding 11 of them.

While the NCP and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) have nominated three candidates each, who were Independents in 2004, the BJP has fielded two Independents.

Altogether 154 candidates are in the fray, of which 57 belong to the Congress.

The NCP has fielded 36 candidates, the AITC 26, BJP 18, and JD(U) three. There are 13 Independents as well.

While 20 Independents of 2004 have attracted the attention of different parties, it is the BJP which has suffered the most in comparison to the 2004 Assembly polls. Fifteen of the BJP candidates in 2004 are with other parties this time. Congress has nominated seven of them.

While five BJP candidates of 2004 are contesting as AITC candidates, two have found favour with the NCP and one with the JD(U).

“These politicians have no principle. They are more interested in winning elections. Party ideology is just meaningless for most of them,” said Bamang Tago, a leading public activist who is fighting a major case of corruption in the PDS in Arunachal Pradesh for nearly five years now.

The state, incidentally, has the unique record of seeing the entire Congress legislature party under Gegong Apang switching over to the BJP in September 2003. One year later when the UPA ousted the NDA at the Centre, Apang returned to the Congress.

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