Sikkim Assembly Election Results 2024: SKM retains power with landslide victory, wins 31 of 32 seats

Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang-led Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on Sunday retained power in the Himalayan state for the second consecutive term as it won 31 seats in the 32-member assembly. There was only one seat that the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) could claim. The sole opposition candidate to win the election was Tenzing Norbu Lamtha of the SDF, running in the Shyari constituency.

Tamang won from Rhenock seat and he also won his second seat Soreng Chakung constituency. Tamang bagged the Rhenock assembly seat by defeating SDF's Som Nath Poudyal by 7,044 votes, an EC official said on Sunday. Tamang bagged 10,094 votes while his nearest rival of the Sikkim Democratic Front got 3,050, he said.

Only one seat was won by the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which controlled the state for 25 consecutive years till 2019. In the race for the Barfung Assembly seat, SDF candidate and former captain of India football Bhaichung Bhutia lost to opposition SKM leader Riksal Dorjee Bhutia by 4,346 votes.

The main contenders candidates in the assembly elections include the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which wants to overthrow the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), which is running for a second term in a row.

Candidates from the BJP, Congress, and Citizen Action Party-Sikkim (CAP-S) are also running for office. CM Prem Singh Tamang and his wife Krishna Kumari Rai, former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, and well-known former Indian football player Bhaichung Bhutia are among the 146 candidates running for seats in the Sikkim elections.

In Sikkim, polls were held to elect 32 members to the State Legislative Assembly. Counting of votes will be conducted for nine seats in Gangtok district, seven in Namchi, five in Pakyong, four each in Soreng and Gyalshing and three in Mangan. In 2019, the SKM ended the 25-year reign of the SDF by securing 17 seats, surpassing the 15 seats won by the Chamling-led party.