SKM sweeps Sikkim Assembly polls; BJP scores hat-trick in Arunachal

The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on Sunday (June 2) returned to power in the Himalayan state for the second consecutive term as it won 31 seats in the 32-member Assembly, while the BJP registered a hat-trick in Arunachal Pradesh after winning 46 seats in the 60-member Assembly.

Elections to the assembly were held simultaneously with the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

Chief Minister and SKM chief Prem Singh Tamang won the Rhenock seat by over 7,000 votes. He has also won the Soreng Chakung constituency. The party bagged 58.38 per cent of the votes polled. The SKM had won 17 seats in the 2019 assembly polls.

The Opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for 25 years in a row till 2019, could manage only one seat, though its president Pawan Kumar Chamling lost in the two constituencies he contested.

Arunachal chooses saffron again 

The BJP, which breached the halfway mark easily with 46 seats clinched a win in Arunachal. The BJP had won 10 of the 60 Assembly seats uncontested.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu was one of the 10 candidates who won unopposed. The saffron party had won 41 seats in 2019.

The National People’s Party (NPP) has bagged five seats. The National People’s Party (NPP) bagged five seats, while the People’s Party of Arunachal won two seats and the NCP secured three.

The Congress won one seat, and Independent candidates emerged victorious in three constituencies. 

Arunachal Pradesh RWD minister Honchung Ngandam and Tourism Minister Nakap Nalo were among the 32 BJP candidates who won the assembly polls on Sunday. Namgey Tsering of NPP won the strategic Tawang seat defeating his lone rival Tsering Dorjee of BJP by a margin of 996 votes.

Votes were counted for 50 assembly segments for which elections were held in the northeastern state along with Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

Taking to X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Thank you Arunachal Pradesh! The people of this wonderful state have given an unequivocal mandate to politics of development. My gratitude to them for reposing their faith in @BJP4Arunachal yet again. Our Party will keep working with even greater vigour for the state’s growth.”

The PM also said, “I would like to appreciate the hardwork of the exceptional @BJP4Arunachal Karyakartas through the election campaign. It is commendable how they went across the state and connected with the people." The saffron party had won 41 seats in 2019.

PM Modi hails SKM victory

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Tamang and the SKM for the victory.

“Congratulations to SKM and CM @PSTamangGolay for their victory in the Sikkim Assembly Elections 2024. I look forward to working with the State Government to further the progress of Sikkim in the coming times,” Modi said in a post on X.

Responding to PM Modi's post, Tamang thanked him.

“We are committed to continuing our efforts towards the development and prosperity of Sikkim. We look forward to collaborating with you to achieve our shared goals for the betterment of our state. Your unwavering support has been a driving force for us, and we look forward to your continued guidance and blessings,” Tamang said in an X.

Modi also thanked all who voted for the BJP in the Sikkim assembly elections. The saffron party contested in 31 seats but failed to win any of them. The party bagged 5.18 per cent of the total votes polled.

Sikkim BJP president Dilli Ram Thapa, a sitting MLA, also lost to SKM nominee Kala Rai in the Upper Burtuk constituency by a margin of 2,968 votes. Rai polled 6,723 votes while Thapa got 3,755. 

Security deposits lost

The BJP contested in 31 Assembly seats except in the Lachen Mangan seat and in most of the seats the saffron party candidates lost their security deposits.

The saffron party decided to go alone in the Sikkim Assembly polls after severing its alliance with the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) led by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang after the seat-sharing talks broke down on the latter's reluctance to meet the BJP's demand for a respectable number of seats.

The BJP had 12 MLAs in the outgoing Sikkim Assembly with ten of them being defectors from the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), while two others had won assembly bypolls held in October 2019 in alliance with the SKM.

Five of those 12 MLAs have deserted the party with three of them joining the SKM and contesting the assembly elections on the SKM symbol.

Of the remaining seven BJP MLAs, only two got tickets to contest the assembly polls. The BJP's electoral track record in Sikkim till the 2019 assembly polls has been abysmal.

The saffron party had made a foray into electoral politics of Sikkim in 1994 by contesting three seats and losing security deposit in all three seats.

Like the BJP, the Congress also failed to open its account and secured a paltry vote share of 0.32 per cent which is even less than that of NOTA (0.99 per cent).