Ritam Banati
Gangtok: The Sikkim assembly election witnessed the hands down victory of the Pawan Chamling –led Sikkim Democratic Front.
Chamling, the president of the SDF had been ruling the state for the past 15 years and got lucky this time round also. He won from the Poklok - Kamrang assembly seat by 5956 votes defeating Congress’ Purna Kumari Rai. He was also elected from the Namchi-Singhithang constituency in South Sikkim where he defeated his nearest rival Khush Bahadur Rai of the Congress by 4644 votes.
Sikkim went to polls by the end of April of 2009 to decide the fate of 167 candidates. Conspicuous among them were political heavyweights like CM Pawan Kumar Chamling, state Congress President Nar Bahadur Bhandari and Speaker DN Takarpa.
The most interesting aspect was the sweeping victory of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) for the fourth time which won all the 32 seats in the Assembly.
The Chief Minister decided to retain the Home, Finance, Personnel, Planning and North East Council portfolios with himself while allocating the rest.
