NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Sikkim Assembly is out to create a record of sorts by continuing to remain opposition-less as candidates of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) on Tuesday withdrew their nominations for both the by-elections from the state.
The SDF nominees withdrew their candidature a day after the nominations of leaders from another party were rejected during scrutiny. Candidates of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) will now be declared elected uncontested ensuring that it will have all 32 MLAs in the Assembly without a single member on the opposition benches.
One of the candidates from the Pawan Kumar Chamling-led SDF has said he withdrew his nomination because he got no support from the party, while the other has not yet revealed his reason for doing so. In the Assembly elections held earlier this year, the Prem Singh Tamang (Golay)-led SKM had won 31 of 32 Assembly seats and the lone SDF MLA, Tenzing Norbu Lamtha, had also joined the ruling party in July.
Bypolls were due to be held for the Soreng-Chakung and Namchi-Singhithang Assembly seats on November 13 because Mr Tamang, who had contested from two constituencies, had given up the Soreng-Chakung seat in favour of Rhenock and his wife, Krishna Kumari Rai, had quit as the MLA from Namchi-Singhithang.
Mr Tamang’s son, Aditya Golay, will now be declared the winner from Soreng-Chakung and SKM candidate Satish Chandra Rai from Namchi-Singhithang when the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ends on Wednesday. On Monday, the nominations of the two candidates of Citizen Action Party – Sikkim (CAP-Sikkim), Pobin Hang Subba from Soreng-Chakung and Mahesh Rai from Namchi-Singhithang, were rejected by the returning officers because of problems with their filings, including the number of proposers.
SDF candidates Prem Bahadur Bhandari from Soreng-Chakung and Daniel Rai from Namchi-Singhithang then withdrew their nominations on Tuesday and Mr Rai also quit the party.
While Mr Bhandari has not given a reason for withdrawing his nomination, Mr Rai said, “The party leadership asked me to submit my nomination over the phone. After completing the scrutiny on Monday and availing clearance, I visited the residence of SDF President Pawan Kumar Chamling and got no response. There were no workers or leaders from the party extending any support.”
“I felt, as a candidate, I had no importance at all as I had neither supporters nor financial support. The party leader was busy touring Nepal and attending functions,” he added. Mr Rai also submitted his resignation to the SDF leadership, citing “step-motherly treatment and dissatisfaction.”
(Manas Dasgupta)