The Opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) won 17 Assembly seats while the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front won 15 seats, election officials said on May 23. Sikkim has 32 Assembly seats.
The main Opposition party SKM is part of the BJP’s North East Development Alliance (NEDA). But the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) and footballer-turned-politician Baichung Bhutia’s Hamro Sikkim Party (HSM) did not form an alliance with any national party.
Chief Minister and SDF supremo Pawan Chamling won the Poklok Kamrang Assembly seat defeating his nearest Sikkim Krantikari Morcha rival Kharka Bahadur Rai by 2,899 votes, they said.
He also won the Namchi Singhithang Assembly seat by a margin of 377 votes.
Also read: Live updates on Andhra Pradesh , Odisha , and Arunachal Pradesh Assembly election results, and General election results
Here are the live updates:
Party-wise results at 2:00 a.m.
| Sikkim Result Status | |||
| Status Known For 32 out of 32 Constituencies | |||
| Party | Won | Leading | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sikkim Democratic Front | 15 | 15 | |
| Sikkim Krantikari Morcha | 17 | 3 | 17 |
| Total | 32 | 32 |
Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling wins both Assembly seats
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has been elected from two Assembly constituencies in the State Assembly elections, EC officials said.
He had contested the elections from Namchi Singhithang and Poklok Kamrang Assembly constituencies, they said.
He won the Namchi Singhithang Assembly seat by a margin of 377 votes, they said.
In the Poklok Kamrang seat, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) supremo defeated Kharka Bahadur Rai, his nearest rival of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha by 2,899 votes, they added.
Mr. Chamling has been the Chief Minister of Sikkim for more than 24 years since December 1994. — PTI
Party-wise trends at 7:20 p.m.
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SKM leading in 5 seats
The SKM is leading in five seats while the ruling SDF is ahead in six seats.
Sitting MLA and SKM candidate Sonam Lama won the Sangha Assembly seat defeating his nearest Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) rival Tshering Lama by 618 votes, they said.
SKM candidate Lok Nath Sharma won the Gyalshing- Barnyak seat defeating his nearest SDF rival Laxuman Sharma by 1,814 votes.
In the Kabi lungchuk seat Karma Loday Bhutia of SKM wom defeating his nearest SDF rival Ugen Nedup Bhutia by 1,437 votes.
Mani Kumar Sharma of SKM won the Khamdong-singtam seat by defeating his nearest SDF rival Garjaman Gurung by 873 seats.
In the Shyari seat Kunga Nima Lepcha of SKM won by defeating his nearest SDF rival Karma Wangdi Bhutia by 1,356 votes.
Sikkim Democratic Front candidate Gay Tshering Dhungel won the Upper Tadong seat defeating his nearest SKM rial Anand Lama by 416 votes.
In West pendam seat L.B. Das of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha won by defeating his nearest SDF rival Gopal Baraily by 898 votes.
SKM candidate Sangay Lepch won the Yoksam-tashiding seat by only 79 votes defeating his nearest SDF rival Dichen Wangchuk Bhutia.
SDF candidate Tashi Thendup Bhutia won the Barfung seat by defeating his nearest SKM rival Lobzang Bhutia by 79 votes.
The SKM is leading in five seats while the ruling SDF is ahead in six seats. — PTI
SDF wins Barfung, Poklok-Kamrang and Upper tadong; leads in 6 other constituencies
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has handed a defeat to SKM’s Kharka Bahadur Rai in Poklok-Kamrang by a margin of 2,899 votes — the biggest so far.
Tashi Thendup Bhutia of the SDF edged out Lobzang Bhutia (SKM) by 97 votes to retain the SDF stronghold, the Barfung constituency. Party candidate, Gay Tshering Dhungel, contesting Upper Tadong also won against Anand Lama from SKM by a margin of 416 votes. SDF currently lead in Djongu,Gnathang-Machong, Melli, Namchi-Singhithang, Rinchenpong and Yangthang.
Party-wise trends at 5:00 p.m.
| Status Known For 21 out of 32 Constituencies | |||
| Party | Won | Leading | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sikkim Democratic Front | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Sikkim Krantikari Morcha | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| Total | 11 | 10 | 21 |
SKM bags Yoksam-tashiding in a dramatic comeback, wins 3 other constituencies
SKM candidate Sangay Lepcha, who was trailing by 103 votes in the morning, has made a comeback against SDF’s Dichen Wangchuk Bhutia to win the Yoksam-tashiding constituency by a margin of 79 votes.
SKM’s Lok Nath Sharma has beaten SDF’s Laxuman Sharma in Gyalshing-barnyak by a margin of 1814 votes, Kunga Nima Lepcha (SKM) has won against Karma Wangdi Bhutia (SDF) by a similar margin of 1356 votes. Gopal Baraily (SDF) has also lost to L.B. Das (SKM) in West Pendam by a margin of 898 votes.
SKM, SDF go head-to-head; lead in 5 constituencies each
SKM candidates, Karma Loday Bhutia, Samdup Lepcha, Kunga Nima Lepcha, Aditya Golay and L.B. Das are leading in Kabi Lungchuk, Lachen Mangan, Shyari, Soreng-chakung and West Pendam respectively.
SDF, on the other hand, holds a slender lead in Barfung by a margin of 97 votes through Tashi Thendup Bhutia. Their candidate Dorjee Tshering Lepcha leads in Gnathang-Machong.
Pawan Chamling, the current Chief Minister, has a lead in both Namchi-Singhithang and Poklok-Kamrang. In the Upper Tadong constituency, the party candidate Gay Tshering Dhungel is in the lead by a margin of 416 votes.
SKM's Sonam Lama retains Sangha, SDF dethroned in Khamdong-singtam
The Sangha constituency has been successfully retained in the end by SKM’s Sonam Lama with a comfortable margin of 630 votes against SDF’s Tshering Lama. The constituency is reserved exclusively for monks of the monastic Sangha community.
On April 11, the monks, registered with the 51 monasteries in the State, took a break from their spiritual routine, and casted their vote. The seat is also unique because it has no geographical boundary. There are 3,293 registered voters in this constituency, which includes 69 nuns.
SKM candidate Mani Kumar Sharma has also won in the Khamdong-singtam constituency against SDF’s Garjaman Gurng by a margin of 873 votes.
Chamling leads
Sikkim Chief Minister and SDF supremo Pawan Kumar Chamling is leading by 2,722 votes against his nearest SKM rival Karka Bahadur Rai in the Poklok-kamrang Assembly seat.
Chamling is also contesting from Namchi Singhithang assembly seat.
SKM leads in Kabi Lungchuk and Sangha
SKM’s Karma Loday Bhutia is ahead by a margin of 1814 votes against his SDF rival Ugen Nedup Bhutia who is the current holder of the Kabi Lungchuk constituency.
Meanwhile, the SKM leads the closely-contested Sangha constituency by a margin of only 12 votes. SKM’s Sonam Lama, who won the previous election by securing 50.40% of the votes, looks likely to retain her constituency. Tshering Lama of the SDF, however, believes that the chase could go down to the wire.
Baichung Bhutia’s Hamro Sikkim Party gets an underwhelming response
With only 0.67% of total votes so far, Hamro Sikkim Party’s (HSP) Biraj Adhikari has failed to create a considerable impact this election. The 57-year-old party spokesperson was chosen to represent the party from Rhenock constituency.
Adhikari had previously contested the 1994 elections with SDF and the 2009 elections with Sikkim National People’s Party - a part of the Sikkim Progressive Alliance (SPA).
SDF, SKM locked in close fight
With trends of only seven out of 32 seats available, Sikkim is witnessing a close fight between the ruling SDF and the Opposition SKM with the latter leading in 4 seats. The SDF is leading in 3.
| Sikkim Result Status | |||
| Status Known For 7 out of 32 Constituencies | |||
| Party | Won | Leading | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sikkim Democratic Front | 3 | 3 | |
| Sikkim Krantikari Morcha | 4 | 4 | |
| Total | 7 | 7 |
Disappointment for Congress’s Bharat Basnett as trends show 1.01 % vote share in favour
The veteran politician from Ranipool Bazar is the Indian National Congress’ (INC) candidate for the Lok Sabha seat.
He had been vehemently opposing the policies of the incumbent government, especially the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 which was passed in the Lok Sabha by the BJP-led government.
The Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) president also played an important role in the protest against the SDF government’s 2018 ban on inorganic vegetables and fruits, claiming it to be a policy that blatantly undermines the citizen’s fundamental right to choice of food.
SKM leads in Khamdong-singtam, SDF on course to retain Yoksam-tashiding
While Mani Kumar Sharma of the SKM party leads against SDF’s Garjaman Gurung by a margin of 606 in the Khamdong-singtam constituency, in Yoksam-tashiding, SDF candidate Dichen Wangchuk Bhutia is leading SKM’s Sangay Lepcha by 103 votes.
Both Khamdong-singtam and Yoksam-tashiding constituencies are currently held by SDF candidates. The Khamdong-Singtam Assembly Constituency is held by Som Nath Poudyal who secured 50% of the votes while Yoksam-tashiding is held by Sonam Dadul Bhutia who secured 69.90% in the previous elections.
Indra Hang Subba leads in Sikkim Lok Sabha seat
The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) candidate Indra Hang Subba is leading over Dek Bahadur Katwal of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) by a margin of 554 votes.
The 30-year-old Subba from West Sikkim had said in April that he will take up the issue of incomplete Sikkim University campus. He has also promised improvement in working conditions, ease of business for factories and industries and removal of the contract system.
Counting of votes begins for the lone Lok Sabha and 32 Assembly seats in the Sikkim. The results can be accessed here .
The longest-serving CM fights to retain his throne
History was made on April 29, 2018, when Pawan Kumar Chamling, the Sikkim Chief Minister surpassed the record set by the late Jyoti Basu and became the longest-serving Chief Minister.
The 68-year-old , who has held the chief ministerial post for over 23 years, won the 2014 elections with two-thirds majority. However, the vote share of his party, Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), over the last 3 elections have been declining.
Mr. Chamling is contesting from Namchi-Singhithang constituency in south Sikkim, which elected him with a 14.2% margin in 2014.
With the opposition party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), declaring that they had forged an alliance with the BJP for both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections - the SDF faces a tough fight.
Many firsts in Sikkim
The SDF has the record of ruling Sikkim for 25 years. Pawan Kumar Chamling quit the post of a Minister in the Sikkim Sangram Parishad in 1993 to form the Sikkim Democratic Front.
The SDF government has many firsts to its credit. Sikkim became the first State to move to organic farming completely, it is also the first plastic-free State. But SDF has a reason to worry — its declining vote share.
