Sikkim: Political history
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Constituencies
32-Sangha constituency: only monks vote and contest
3,293 voters are there in the segment sans shape or size as in April 2019.
This unique Assembly constituency does not exist on the State’s map and has no geographical boundaries.
“It is only one-of-its-kind constituency in the country reserved for the monastic community (Sangha),” the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Sikkim states on its website.
Buddhist monks registered with 51 monasteries in the State are the only ones who can contest and cast their votes for the unique Assembly seat. R. Telang, CEO of Sikkim, said that the number of voters for the Sangha seat this year is 3,293, which includes 3,224 (monks) and 69 (nuns).
Three EVMs
“In 51 polling stations, arrangements are being made for casting vote for the Sangha seat,” the CEO said. “Along with one EVM for Assembly seat, and one for Lok Sabha seat, there will be third EVM for monks to cast votes on the Sangha seat,” he added. The 3,293 monks can vote at the EVMs designated for the Lok Sabha seat and for the Sangha seat in these 51 polling stations, he added.
Centuries-old tradition
Sonam Lama, who won the Assembly seat in 2014 as a representative of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), said that the seat draws its origin from hundreds of years of tradition.
“Before 1975, when Sikkim became part of India, the State had a monarchy,” said Mr. Lama. “The Ministers to the king were selected from both common people and priests,” he added.
Tshering Lama, who is contesting the seat as a candidate of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), said that references to representation of Lamas (monks) in the council of ministers dated back to 1640 under the Chogyal kings of the State. Experts say the separate electorate for monks of the 51 registered monasteries in the Sangha seat is provided for under article 371 (F) of the Constitution, which has separate provisions with respect to the State of Sikkim.
Three-cornered contest
In the 2014 Assembly polls, the SKM candidate had won the seat by a margin of only 126 votes.
With one of the lowest numbers of voters, the Sangha Assembly seat is one of the closely contested seats of Sikkim. Other than candidates from SKM and SDF, Karma Tashi Bhutia from Congress is also in the electoral fray in this seat.
All three candidates are reaching out to the monks residing in monasteries across the State with promises to bring the Karmapa to Sikkim and serve the religion. On April 11, the monks would take a break from their spiritual routines and chanting of prayers to elect their representative.
Gorkhaland
2017: Support for Gorkhaland comes at a cost
Jigme Pazo, Paradise Imperiled: Sikkim pays price for Gorkhaland, Sep 9, 2017: The Times of India
See graphic:
2011-17, Sikkim’s support for Gorkhaland
Suraj Biswakarma is a worried man. The flourishing tourism business in Sikkim that was raking in big bucks for many like him has dried up, thanks to the neighbouring hills of Darjeeling shutting down to press its demand for separate statehood. During the tourist season the 33-yearold taxi driver from Gangtok easily made Rs 70,000 a month, but this year he has barely managed Rs 25,000.
“Our biggest festival (Dashain) is around the corner. Every year I visit my inlaws with gifts. I don't know what my family and I will do this time,“ he said.
Sandwiched between China to the north and West Bengal to the south, the land-locked state of Sikkim has been brought to its knees as the Gorkhaland shutdown approaches a record-breaking three months. The state's only lifeline to the outside world, National Highway 10, remains open, but with 70km of it lying in Darjeeling and Kalimpong and reports of violence in the hills, tour ists have kept away. Tourism may have been the hardest hit, but virtually no other sector has remained unaffected either.
“Sikkim's development has slowed down as we depend on Siliguri for all our resources,“ said former tourism minister KT Gyaltsen, now legal advisor to the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front party. “The construction industry is affected. We have children studying in Darjeeling schools. People have taken a lot of loans and many of our youth are dependent on the tourism industry . It (the shutdown) has hit our economy .“
Tourism secretary Chewang Zangpo pointed out that between January and June this year, tourist footfall in the state hit a record 11.75 lakh, which included 31,000 foreigners, and then fell sharply . “Sikkim has been grossly affected. Although the national highway was always open, many countries started issuing advisories cautioning their citizens to avoid our state,“ he said.
The price that Sikkim is paying for the Darjeeling cause may be putting a strain on the overwhelming support it extended to its neighbour at the start of this latest round of agitation. What was initially a display of solidarity for neighbours of a similar culture, rapidly digressed into alarm as Sikkim vehicles came under attack across the border. As income from the tourism sector which has been flourishing in the past decade, remains non-existent, frustration is on the rise.
Gyalsten has a logical explanation for Sikkim's support for the cause. “If we had stayed silent, disturbance would have started right from Rangpo (the town bordering West Bengal). Our message was `We support the movement and now leave us alone,'“ he said. Pintso Chopel, Sikkim Democratic Front MLA Gangtok echoes a similar sentiment. “Our sympathy is always there but we want the problem solved as early as possible,“ he said.
Nepali community
Supreme Court’s observations: 2023
Briefly
Umang Poddar wrote on 1-2 Feb 2023
Sikkim is currently seeing massive statewide protests.
The reason? A Supreme Court verdict delivered about two weeks back.
While deciding who would be eligible for a tax exemption given in the state, the court said Sikkimese Nepalis were of "foreign origin".
Though this part features in the observation and is not part of the judgement's main ratio, it has touched a nerve regarding a long-standing identity debate in the state. (2/n)
There are three main communities in Sikkim: Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalis.
Though Nepalis have a numeric majority in the state, they have often been labelled as "outsiders".
Several groups [and the state government] are now trying to get the court to expunge these remarks.
More details
February 11, 2023: groundreport.in
People of the Nepali community were on the streets in Sikkim, recently on January 13, the Supreme Court called the Nepali community of Sikkim foreigners during the hearing of the petition demanding tax exemption for Sikkimese citizens. After a massive protest, the Supreme Court removed the reference to Sikkimese-Nepalese as ‘people of foreign origin’ from its order on January 13 regarding tax exemption in Sikkim.
A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagaratna modified its decision while hearing the Centre’s application along with applications by Sikkim and private parties seeking modification of the remarks.
Initially, the apex court agreed to delete the portion ‘persons of foreign origin settled in Sikkim like Nepalis’, but Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, urged the bench to delete the entire sentence.
The bench said that the error occurred because the original writ petitioners made more than 25 amendments in the petition, but this fact was not brought to the notice of the court.
Three main groups in Sikkim
Let us tell you that there are mainly three ethnic groups in Sikkim, Lepchas, Bhutias, and Nepalis. The population of Lepchas and Bhutias in the state is 27 percent and Nepalis 58 percent.
The people of the Lepchaz and Bhutia communities used to be the elite class in the former Buddhist Kingdom. They believe that Sikkim had to join India in 1975 because of the civil unrest created by the Nepali community. After becoming part of India in 1975, the Lepchas and Bhutias became a minority in the state. Nepalis say that they have contributed to Sikkim’s economy for the last 150 years, so they have equal rights in Sikkim.
But the Nepali community of Sikkim has been facing an identity crisis for years. The observation of the Supreme Court has further increased the insecurity of this community.
What was the case in the Supreme court?
In the Supreme Court, the Marwari community of Sikkim challenged the tax exemption given to the communities living in Sikkim before 1975.
This tax exemption rule, which came in the year 2008, was discriminatory and against fundamental rights because many communities living in the state before 1975 were kept out of it, as well as tax exemption was not given to women who marry non-Sikkimese men.
The Supreme Court agreed that the benefit of tax exemption should be given to every domicile in Sikkim. The decision to keep women out of it has also been quashed by the Supreme Court.
Pronouncing her verdict, Justice BV Nagarathna said that Sikkim’s 1948 tax manual does not differentiate between citizens on the basis of origin, all citizens are equal irrespective of their origin.
That’s why all citizens should get equal rights.
Protests in Sikkim
The order of the Supreme Court has been welcomed by all, but there is a protest against the observation of the court in which Nepalese were called foreigners.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had also expressed concern over the court’s remarks amid the protests. Amid the public outcry, the state’s Additional Advocate General (AAG) Sudesh Joshi, who was representing the petitioners in the apex court, resigned on February 1.
Political parties in the state had accused the advocate general of not giving enough information to the court about the difference between the Nepali population settled in Sikkim and the people who had settled here in the past.
The very next day, on February 2, State Health Minister Mani Kumar Sharma resigned in protest against the state government’s mishandling of the Supreme Court’s remarks.
Politics is also intense on this matter, former BJP state president D.B. Chouhan supported protests across the state on this matter.
He said, “The central government should make every effort to protect the uniqueness of the state of Sikkim. The Law and Home Ministries should take all necessary steps to protect the special status accorded to the people of Sikkim, including Nepalis, Bhutias, and Lepchas, who voted for the merger in the Union of India.”
Settlers, old
2023 April
Jigme Pazo, April 15, 2023: The Times of India
Gangtok : A weekend attack on a peaceful demonstration in Sikkim threatens to widen fault lines between the Himalayan state’s ethnic groups and settlers on key questions of identity after the SC this January put both sides on an equal footing in income-tax exemptions.
Until the SC order, the tax waivers were available only to the ethnic “Sikkimese” people since its merger with India in 1975. The “old settlers” — as they are referred to locally — comprise Marwaris and other business communities, who trace their ancestry to other states but have been living in there for several generations.
The Joint action council, which represents these ethnic groups and whose demonstration was attacked in Singtam on April 8, fears the January 13 SC order will eventually extend to other benefits for the settlers, from jobs to education quotas, at their expense. “Two people were injured in the clash,” said Tenzing Loden Lepcha, SP East Sikkim.
Bhaichung Bhutia, former India football team captain and current president of Hamro Sikkim Party, feared that “it’s opening a Pandora’s Box”. “Today, it’s income tax, tomorrow it can easily be about jobs and education,” Bhutia said.
KT Gyalsen, former assembly speaker and minister, called it a “mess” andcautioned that the controversy could snowball far beyond the borders of the scenic state. “Initially, income tax exemption was being demanded for three categories of people, other than holders of the Sikkim subject, i. e. the business community, Sikkimese ladies married to men from outside Sikkim and thirdly, those whose parents were employed in the Sikkim government prior to 1969,” Gyalsen recalled.
“There was almost no discrimination during the time of the Chogyal (erstwhile ruler of Sikkim).
According tothe 1950 treaty, the settlers were never considered outsiders in Sikkim. Irrespective of caste and creed the same tax rate was applied to all,” said Ajay Agarwal, a fifth-generation resident and general secretary of Sikkim Agarwal Kutumb, which represents the Marwaris. Pema Wangchuk, consulting editor of Summit Times, said: “For the first time, the government defined who a Sikkimese is. It’s not the IT exemption that is the main problem. The same logic will apply to all other aspects of life. ”
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
See also
Sikkim: Parliamentary elections
Sikkim: Political history
