Siliguri: The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) led by the Chief Minister for 25 years Pawan Chamling failed to even put up a semblance of resistance in the Assembly elections 2024, which were held on April 19, the results of which were announced on Sunday. The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) led by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang earned the second straight term without a hiccup, cantering 31 seats in the 32-member House.
Considered bigwig in the national landscape, Bhaichung Bhutia also faced the ignominy of defeat, for the sixth time. Bhutia contested from Namchi's Barphung seat, but lost to Rickshel Dorji Bhutia. Even Pawan Chamling, the longest-serving Chief Minister in the country, contested from two seats--Namchi's Poklok Kamrang and Namchibung constituencies--but was unsuccessful in both attempts.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang contested from Sorenga the Chakung seat and won by a huge margin. Besides, he also fielded himself from the Rehnak seat to win by another big margin. Prem Singh Gol's wife Krishna Kumari Rai, contesting from the Namchi Singithan seat, also managed to win comfortably.
However, Tamang’s ally BJP had to bite the dust. And so was the Citizen Action Party. None of the parties could open their accounts in Sikkim in 2024. Election Commission sources revealed that former Chief Minister Pawan Chamling was defeated by SKM's Raju Basnet by 2,256 votes while in Poklok Kamrang, SKM's Bhojraj Rai had the last laugh by a margin of 3,063 votes. Bhaichung Bhutia was defeated by Riksel Dorji Bhutia by a margin of 4,346 votes.
Meanwhile, incumbent Chief Minister Tamang defeated AD Subba of SDF by 7,396 votes in the Sorenga Chakung seat, while he got the better of SDF’s Somnath Paudial by 7,044 votes from the Rehnak seat. Similarly, Chief Minister Tamang's wife contested from Namchi's Singithang seat for ESKM in which she defeated SDF's Bimal Rai by 5,302 votes.
It was doomsday for the Chamling-Bhaichung combo after managing to win only one seat in Siari. SDF's Tenzing Norbu Namtha defeated SKM's Kungana Nima Lepcha by 1,314 votes in the Siari assembly constituency.
SKM got a total of 58.38% of votes, while SDF could only muster 27.37%. BJP secured 5.18% votes in 30 seats, Congress bagged 0.32% in 10 seats they contested, Sikkim Citizen Action Party secured 7.77% and NOTA got 0.99%. It is learnt that Prem Singh Tamang and his MLAs staked claim to form the government and met Governor Lakshman Acharya on Sunday afternoon.
