Sikkim Assembly Election 2019

The single-phase voting for 32-seat Sikkim Assembly Election will take place on April 11, 2019. The counting of votes and declaration of results will happen on May 23, 2019, along with Lok Sabha, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha elections results.

Sikkim has been a stable state as its Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) has been ruling the north-east state since 1994. Chamling has equalled the record of Jyoti Basu for being the chief minister for 5 consecutive terms in any state. Earlier, Jyoti Basu served West Bengal as the chief minister for 5 continuous terms.

The electoral politics in the small state revolves around Chamling. However, the SDF’s seats have gone down in the last assembly polls in 2014 as the party had won 31 out of 32 seats in 2004 and all seats (32) in 2009. In 2004, it won 22 seats only. The main opposition party in the state is Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), which was formed by Prem Singh Tamang, who left SDF in 2013. It had won 10 seats in 2014 assembly election.

Important Dates

Date of Issue of Gazette Notification: 18.03.2019

Last Date of Nominations: 25.03.2019

Date for Scrutiny of Nominations: 26.03.2019

Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures: 28.03.2019

Date of Poll: 11.04.2019

Date of Counting: 23.05.2019

Date before which election shall be completed: 27.05.2019

Apart from the two regional parties –SDF and SKM—the Congress has also declared its candidates on all 32 seats and the BJP too has fielded candidates after its alliance talks with SKM failed. The current assembly election result would determine if Pawan Kumar Chamling gets the record 6th term as chief minister or SKM will unseat him.