Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

Former MP cites dissatisfaction over party policies as reason for resignation GANGTOK, October 17:  Former MP, Rajya Sabha and a senior member of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) PT Gyamtso has resigned from the primary membership of the SDF party. In a letter to the party President Pawan Chamling dated October 13, Mr. Gyamtso has said that he chose to dissociate from the party as he was “disillusioned with ad-hocism policy of the party, influenced by sycophants, self seekers and rank opportunists.” According to the letter, the starting of Mega Projects, seven of which are located in Dzongu has, however, changed Mr. Gyamtso’s perception “about the party president’s intention and his concern for the Lepcha community and the oft repeated pronouncement of Sikkim having a rich biodiversity and clean environment for development of eco-tourism destinations in the country in a number of national and international meets.” Agreeing upon the concept of hydro power generation other than tourism ...

Legislators of all 30 Indian states comprise the electoral college voting for a president, but they all are not equal. While a Sikkim legislator's vote is counted as seven votes, an MLA from India's largest state Uttar Pradesh has a vote value of 208. An MLA's vote value is calculated on the basis of the population, according to the 1971 census, of the state the member belongs to. In order to provide uniformity to the representation of the state at the election, an MLA's vote is calculated by dividing the total population of the state by the number of legislators it has in its assembly, which is multiplied by 1,000, according to the voting pattern prescribed in the constitution. For example, total population of Andhra Pradesh, according to the 1971 census, is 43,502,708 and the total number of seats in the state assembly is 294. Therefore, the vote value of an Andhra Pradesh MLA is 148. The vote value of legislators from various states is given below: ...