SDF wins Sikkim's lone Lok Sabha seat, swept in all assembly seat

Gangtok, May 17 (IST 5:15): Riding on a pro-incumbency wave, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) on Saturday swept all 32 assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seats in Sikkim. SDF President Pawan Chamling led the charge in his party’s run for a fourth consecutive term in office, winning both his assembly constituencies -Poklok-Kamrang and Namchi-Singithang—in South Sikkim.

Ruling party candidate P D Rai, too, sailed through in the parliamentary polls, defeating his Congress rival K N Upreti by a massive 84,868 votes. Senior SDF leader D N Takarpa, the speaker of the seventh legislative assembly, won the Rinchenpong (BL) assembly seat for a second term. At the same time, Menlom Lepcha (Martam-Rumtek-BL), R N Subba (Soreng-Chakung), C B Karki (Rangang-Yangang), K T N Gyaltsen (Shyari-BL), PS Tamang (Upper Burtuk) registered facile wins.

All four women candidates of the ruling party -Chandra Maya Subba (Maneybung-Dentam), Neeru Sewa (West Pendam-SC), Tulshi Devi Rai (Melli), and Tilu Gurung (Namthang-Rateypani)—made it to the state legislature.

Neither the opposition’s charge against Chamling for his autocratic style of function, the dual nationality charge against him, nor the agitation by the apolitical outfit Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) against the hydel projects could impede the SDF’s landslide victory.

The majority of SDF candidates won by over 1000 votes, with only its nominee from the Sangha assembly seat exclusively reserved for Buddhist monks, having a narrow margin of 65 votes.

Chamling won by an impressive margin of 5,956 votes from the Poklok-Kamrang assembly constituency, polling over 70 per cent of the votes. He humiliated BJP nominee Padam Prasad Sharma, who secured only 167 votes.

Sharma first charged Chamling with dual nationality last year and recently filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court.

The SDF president, who secured a record sixth term in the state legislature after being first elected from Damthang assembly constituency in 1985, also won handsomely from the adjoining Namchi-Singhithang assembly constituency by a margin of 5644 votes. pic: The Hindu