Sikkim: Candidates Back Out, Leaving Assembly without Any Opposition

GANGTOK: After all the candidates from the Sikkim Democratic Front pulled out of the by-elections for two Assembly seats, the Sikkim Assembly will remain without opposition.

Earlier, ;eaders from another party had their nominations turned down. Today, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha will gain all 32 seats of the Assembly unopposed.

One of the candidates for the SDF alleged that he pulled out since he was not supported by the party, and to the other, there is no justification as to why he would withdraw.

In the Assembly elections of this year, the SKM, led by former Sikkim CM Golay, or Prem Singh Tamang, won all but one of the constituencies. The lone SDF MLA, Tenzing Norbu Lamtha too defected to the ruling party in July. November 13 has been reserved for the by-polls on the seats of Soreng-Chakung and Namchi-Singhithang as Tamang, who contested for two constituencies, left the seat of Soreng-Chakung to contest Rhenock and his wife, Krishna Kumari Rai also vacated the position of MLA from Namchi-Singhithang.

Tamang's son Aditya Golay is set to be declared the winner for the Soreng-Chakung seat. SKM candidate Satish Chandra Rai will come out as a winner from Namchi-Singhithang after the nomination withdrawal deadline comes to an end on Wednesday.

On Monday, the returning officers rejected the nominations of two CAP-Sikkim candidates: Pobin Hang Subba for Soreng-Chakung and Mahesh Rai for Namchi-Singhithang, who had problems in their documents, including fewer proposers.

Then on Tuesday, the SDF nominees Prem Bahadur Bhandari and Daniel Rai withdrew their nominations from Soreng-Chakung and Namchi-Singhithang, respectively. Rai left the party too.

While Bhandari hasn't explained why he withdrew, Rai said that he felt unsupported. He said, "The party leadership asked me to submit my nomination over the phone. After the scrutiny on Monday, I visited SDF President Pawan Kumar Chamling's house but got no response. No party members or leaders were offering any support."

He said, "I felt irrelevant as a candidate since I had no followers and no funding support. The party leader was back in Nepal and attending programs." Rai has also submitted his resignation to the SDF citing "neglect and discontent".

ALSO READ:

ALSO WATCH: