The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday that the Assembly election in Sikkim will be conducted in a single phase on April 19. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4.
Sikkim is among the four states whose Assembly election dates were unveiled by the ECI. The other states are Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. These states will hold elections simultaneously with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, whose dates were also disclosed.
The current government in Sikkim, led by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, will conclude its tenure in June 2024. With 32 constituencies in the Sikkim Assembly, the ruling SKM holds 17 seats.
Prem Singh Tamang, aged 56, represents the Poklok-Kamrang constituency and is the sixth Chief Minister of Sikkim. He established the SKM and has been its leader since 2019.
In the 2019 elections, Prem Tamang ended the 25-year reign of Pawan Kumar Chamling in Sikkim. Tamang's SKM secured 17 seats, granting it a majority in the Assembly, while the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) led by Chamling won 15 seats. Chamling, who served five consecutive terms, held the title of India's longest-serving Chief Minister.
However, other parties such as the BJP, Congress, and the Hamro Sikkim Party, failed to secure any seats despite fielding candidates in the elections.
The 2019 Sikkim Assembly elections were conducted in a single phase, reflecting the state's commitment to democratic processes.
