SKM retains Sikkim with Himalayan win, reduces SDF to one seat

The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on Sunday retained power with a landslide win in the Himalayan state of Sikkim winning 31 of the 32 seats in the Assembly polls while restricting the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) to just one.

The SDF, which was once a dominant force in the state and had held its reins since 1984, first tasted defeat in the 2019 Assembly polls at the hands of the SKM, which won 17 seats, two more than its rival. While the SKM secured a vote share of 47.1%, the SDF managed to poll 47.63% of the votes.

Both national parties – the Congress and BJP – are set to draw a blank like the Citizen Action Party-Sikkim (CAP-S). The SKM, which had contested the 2019 Assembly polls with support from the BJP, contested the April 19 simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections alone.

Incumbent CM and SKM chief Prem Singh Tamang won both his seats – Soreng-Chakung and Rhenchok. While he won the Rhenchok seat by a margin of 7,044 votes, he emerged victorious by a 7,396-vote margin in Soreng-Chakung.

Speaking to mediapersons after his party’s landslide victory, Tamang said, “Pawan Kumar Chamling lost completely in 2019 only but it’s a democracy. The work they couldn’t do in 25 years, we did it in five years. People have voted on that basis.”

The CM-designate credited his party’s victory to the trust and love of people. “Party cadres worked very hard. Now, we have the next five years to give our 100% for the people of Sikkim,” he said at a gathering in Paljor stadium in Gangtok.

Tamang, also known as P S Golay, hails from West Sikkim and has been actively involved in the state since the early 1990s after resigning from his job as a government teacher. He won his first election on a SDF ticket from Soreng-Chakung.

In 2012, he