Sikkim: Assembly elections
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2019
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha wins 17/ 32 seats
May 24, 2019: The Times of India
From: May 24, 2019: The Times of India
The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) is set to create history and form the government in Sikkim after it won 17 of the 32 assembly seats in the results declared on Thursday. The SKM has ousted Pawan Chamling-led SDF party which was in power in Sikkim for five consecutive terms since 1994. Footballerturned-politician Baichung Bhutia’s Hamro Sikkim Party (HSM) that contested from 12 seats drew a blank.
SDF’s loss also ends Chamling’s reign as the longest serving chief minister in India. The SDF president has, however, won from both Poklok Kamrang and Namchi Singithang constituencies in South Sikkim. He had won from Namchi Singithang for eight straight terms since 1985. Other heavyweights who won from the SDF are sitting minister NK Subba and DT Lepcha.
Among those winning on SKM ticket are SKM president PS Golay’s son Aditya Golay from Soreng Chakung constituency. PS Golay, who formed the SKM in 2013 after breaking away from the SDF, did not contest the election after being barred following imprisonment in a corruption case. The SKM had won 10 seats in 2014. Seven of its MLAs had defected to the ruling SDF a year later.
SKM supporters began celebrating their win even before the final round of results were announced. The election counting and declaration of final results were still going on at the time of filing this report. Commenting on the win, SKM acting president and Shyari MLA elect Kunga Nima Lepcha said the party’s win has ended the 25-year-long oppression under the SDF regime. He said SKM will usher in a true parivartan (change) in the state long suffering due to the corruption of SDF.
SKM candidate Indra Hang Limboo also won the lone Lok Sabha seat from Sikkim. He was leading by around 12,000 votes as per the results tabulated at the time of filing this report.
2024
June 3, 2024: The Times of India
From: June 3, 2024: The Times of India
Landslides usually evoke harrowing memories in Sikkim, but this term aptly describes the assembly election results in the Himalayan state. CM Prem Singh Tamang’s Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) returned to office for a second consecutive term, winning 31 of 32 seats on Sunday, reducing opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which had governed the state for 25 years until 2019, to a single seat.
Tamang (56) won both Rhenock and Soreng-Chakung constituencies, contributing to the party’s 58.38% of votes. SKM’s resounding success starkly contrasts with its performance in the 2019 elections, when it won 17 seats and SDF took 15.
PM Modi congratulated Tamang and SKM, expressing his eagerness to collaborate with the state govt to advance Sikkim’s progress. BJP contested 31 seats but did not win any, securing 5.18% of total votes. BJP decided to contest solo after seat-sharing talks with NDA ally SKM broke down.
Congress drew a blank.
Ex-CM Chamling of SDF loses both seats
June 3, 2024: The Times of India
SDF chief and eight-time MLA Pawan Chamling, who holds the record for being India’s longest serving CM — from 1994 to 2019 — lost both his seats to SKM candidates.
Gangtok: Five-time former CM of Sikkim and SDF supremo Pawan Kumar Chamling lost from both Poklok Kamrang and Namcheybung assembly constituencies he contested. Chamling an eighttime MLA lost to Sikkim Krantikari Morcha’s Bhoj Raj Rai by 3,063 votes in the Poklok Kamrang seat in his native Namchi district.
The five-time former CM lost to SKM’s Raju Basnet by 2,256 votes from the Namcheybung assembly constituency. Basnet bagged 7,195 votes while Chamling got 4,939. Chamling was the chief minister of Sikkim for 25 years from 1994 to 2019. For the first time in nearly 40 years, five-term former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling will not be seen inside Sikkim assembly after a crushing defeat.
Like Basu, whom he idolises, Chamling had led his party to five terms in power from 1994 to 2019.
This was no mean feat for a politician who had made a humble beginning in Sikkim politics by getting elected as the president of Yangang gram panchayat in 1982.
In 1985, Chamling won his maiden assembly election from Damthang constituency in his home district of South Sikkim on the ticket of Sikkim Sangram Parishad led by the then chief minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari.
Apart from his electoral successes, Chamling was also known for his oratorial skills. Though he is only a matriculate to show for his academic qualification, he has been a prolific writer and poet penning his works in Nepali.
PTI
Bhaichung’s 6th defeat in 10 yrs
Football icon and SDF vice president Bhaichung Bhutia lost in Barfung, his sixth electoral defeat in past 10 years. He had lost twice in Bengal and thrice in Sikkim.
Details
From: June 3, 2024: The Times of India
See graphic:
The vote share of the various political parties in the Sikkim Assembly elections of 2019 and 2024
See also
Sikkim: Assembly elections
