Independents put up best performance in East district

GANGTOK, 05 Nov: Out of 144 Wards in the East district, the results for which were declared today, the ruling SDF party has won in 102 Wards while 42 of the independent candidates won from their respective Wards. It may be mentioned here that the total number of Wards that went to poll is 157, the results for 13 wards were withheld [see accompanying story for details].
Of the total 290 Panchayat Wards, 133 had been won uncontested by the SDF and polling was held in the rest 157 Wards. For the Zilla Panchayat, out of the total 32 Zilla Panchayat seats, 06 were won uncontested by the ruling party and polling was held in the rest 26 Zillas, where 23 winning candidates were from the SDF party and 03 were won by independent candidates.
The three Independents who won at the Zilla panchayat level today, are: Poloo Sherpa [Lingtam-Phadamchen], Denka Bhutia [Chuchenpheri-Lamaten] and Kamal Gurung [Thekabong-Machong-Samsing].
Laden Lepcha, a victorious independent candidate from Markang Ward under Chuchajen constituency, while speaking to NOW! today thanked the people for the mandate  and said, “It is now my duty to work for the betterment of the people”.
“The main problems in our Ward are that of roads, water and the Ward is still under developed. So, first and foremost there is a need to work on these problems and then take the next step”, he said and added that he would have to ensure that the schemes and benefits meant for the people are properly utilized.
Speaking on whether he would join the SDF party if approached, he stated that if the party wants him to join then he would willingly accept, but added that before taking such a step he would have to confer with the people of his Ward.
“Even though I won as an independent candidate, I will not differentiate between the people who voted for me and the people who voted for the party candidate”, he said and added that he would provide equal opportunities to all in the Ward.
The counting for the Panchayat elections for the East District were held here at the Tashi Namgyal Academy auditorium today.