Sikkim Assembly polls 2024: Key candidates, issues, current status of House

Sikkim will vote simultaneously for the Lok Sabha and for its 32-seat Assembly on April 19. Votes for the Assembly elections will be counted on June 2, when the current state government’s term ends, while the general election results will be declared on June 4.

It is expected to be largely a two-front battle, between the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and Pawan Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for a quarter century.

Also in the contest are the two national parties, the BJP and the Congress, though both had drawn a blank in the last polls, in 2019. The BJP last month called off its alliance with the SKM and declared that it would go it alone in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

Here is a brief account of the Sikkim Assembly polls, the key players, and major issues that may swing the results in favour of one party or the other.

Sikkim Assembly election date: April 19 (along with Lok Sabha polls)

Current status of the Assembly

It had been a neck-and-neck contest in 2019, with SKM winning by a whisker despite getting a slightly smaller vote share compared to the SDF. The SKM had won 17 of the 32 Assembly seats while the SDF bagged 15. However, SKM’s vote share was 47.17 per cent, while SDF’s share was 47.63 per cent.

The BJP’s and Congress’s performances had been quite dismal, though the saffron party had fared slightly better with a 1.62 per cent vote share compared to the Grand Old Party’s 0.77 per cent.

Ironically, despite winning zero seats, the BJP once had as many as 12 MLAs in the Sikkim Assembly, with 10 of them being defectors from the SDF. The two others won the Assembly bypolls in October 2019 in alliance with the SKM.

Five of those 12 MLAs have since deserted the party, with three joining the SKM. They will contest the Assembly elections on the SKM symbol. Of the remaining seven BJP MLAs, only two have been given tickets to contest the Assembly polls.

Key candidates in the 2024 Sikkim Assembly polls

While both SDF and SKM have fielded candidates for all 32 seats, the BJP will be contesting 31, and the Congress 15 seats. Interestingly, the SKM has not ruled out the possibility of a post-poll alliance with the BJP, as it had done after the 2019 elections. Here are some of the major players this election.

1. Bhaichung Bhutia (SDF), contesting from Barfung

The extremely popular former Indian football team captain has buried all his differences with Chamling and merged his party, Hamro Sikkim, with the SDF. Chamling, who is banking heavily on Bhutia’s immense popularity to return to power in the Himalayan state, has responded by granting him the post of the SDF vice-president.

Bhutia will be contesting the Barfung seat, which was won by the SDF in 2019, though the incumbent MP Tashi Thendup Bhutia later joined the BJP.

2. Pawan Kumar Chamling (SDF), contesting from Poklok–Kamrang and Namchaybong

Chamling, who served as the chief minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019, will be eagerly looking forward to returning to power. He holds the record for being the longest serving chief minister in India, beating Jyoti Basu of West Bengal, though both governed a state five terms in a row.

Like in the three previous polls since 2009, he is contesting from two Assembly constituencies — Poklok-Kamrang in his native Namchi district and Namcheybung in Pakyong district. While he has successfully contested Poklok-Kamrang twice in the past — in 2009 and 2019 — he will be contesting the Namcheybung seat for the first time. The other seat that he won in 2019, Namchi-Singhithang, will be contested by SDF’s Bimal Rai this time.

3. Prem Singh Tamang (SKM), contesting from Soreng–Chakung and Rhenock

Prem Singh Tamang, better known as PS Golay, is the current Chief Minister of Sikkim and founder of the SKM. He will be eyeing a second consecutive term in government.

Before forming the SKM in 2013, he was a key member of the SDF and served in ministerial roles in the state government for three consecutive terms, from 1994 to 2009. He did not contest the 2019 elections, but after becoming the CM, he won the by-election from Poklok-Kamrang (Chamling did not contest the bypolls from this seat).

4. Dilli Ram Thapa (BJP), contesting from Upper Burtuk

Thapa is the BJP Sikkim unit president. He was elected on an SDF ticket from Upper Burtuk in 2019 and was the architect of defection of 10 MLAs to the BJP.

The BJP is trying to make a footprint in Sikkim by riding on the wave of nationalism and welfare measures in the Himalayan state which has been ruled largely by regional parties since its merger with India five decades ago.

Thapa is confident that the people of Sikkim will repose trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and elect the saffron party in the state in line with their aspiration to join national mainstream and reap the fruits of development and welfare measures.

Key election issues in Sikkim

1. Special status

The SDF has been trying to utilise the fear among local people that the special status of Sikkim under Article 371(F) of the Constitution and its old laws will be diluted if either the SKM or BJP comes to power or join hands in a post-alliance.

Under Article 371(F), Sikkim has been granted several benefits, such as only Sikkimese people have the right to own land and get state government jobs. They are also exempted from paying income tax.

All regional parties, including BJP’s once-ally SKM, have been unhappy with the expansion of the definition of “Sikkimese” people beyond indigenous Lepcha, Bhutia, and Nepali people by including descendants of old settlers living in Sikkim till 1975 in the new Finance Act, 2023.

The BJP has defended the decision saying that it was done to provide income tax exemption only to the descendants of old settlers.

The SDF, in its manifesto, has promised to safeguard the sanctity of Article 371(F). Stating that the SDF was fighting the Assembly polls on the theme of “Save Sikkim”, Chamling has also promised to recognise the indigenous Bhutia and Limboo communities as ancient (Aadhim janjati) tribes.

2. Corruption

Opposition parties have been targeting Tamang’s government over allegations of corruption, financial mismanagement, and extortion from traders. Thapa, the BJP state unit president has been very critical of the SKM government, charging it with corruption, misrule, and financial mismanagement, besides abetting violence against political adversaries. Bhaichung Bhutia, too, tweeted last month about an attack on former Speaker KN Rai, accusing the SKM of orchestrating it.

3. Women and youth

The SDF has put up young candidates in most of the Assembly constituencies while its manifesto promising 50 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and higher education. Ironically, the party itself has not fielded a single female candidate this time. The SDF had given tickets to four women candidates in the 2019 elections and two of them had won.

CM Tamang has criticised the SDF even though his SKM has fielded only four women. Among them is his wife Krishna Kumar Rai. She is in the fray from Namchi-Singhithang, while sitting MLA Rajkumari Thapa, who joined the ruling party from the BJP recently, has been fielded from Rangang-Yangang.

All in all, there are only 12 women candidates out of the 146 nominees in the fray for the Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seat, even though women constitute nearly 50 per cent of the voters. Of 4.66 lakh voters, 2.31 lakh are women. In the outgoing Sikkim Legislative Assembly, there were three women MLAs.