HOW SIKKIM HAS VOTED

Intro: Sikkim will go to poll on 12 April 2014. In keeping with the mood, we bring to our readers, on one election per day basis, a look back at Assembly elections in Sikkim since 1979 when the first elections as a part of India were held in the State. The daily capsule will cover one election per day and provide details like the names of victors and runners-up from all 32 constituencies and their respective vote-share. The constituencies had different names and boundaries before 2009 when the new delimitation came into effect. The rest of the country might be undertaking opinion polls and poll projections, but at NOW! we believe that going over past records can help make better sense of ongoing issues and trends.
We hope our readers enjoy this exercise as much as we enjoyed putting it together. We present here, details of Election 2009, the final installment of the series.


Elections 2009

Total number of voters: 3,00,584 [M: 1,57,362; F: 1,43,222]

Parties in the fray: This election drew the parties; counting independents as one group, there were nine parties in the fray. Sikkim Democratic Front, Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad, Sikkim Gorkha Prajatantrik Party, Sikkim Jan-Ekta Party, Indian National Congress, CPI-M, BJP, and NCP. Between them, they fielded 167 candidates. The increased number of players notwithstanding, this was again a two-sided contest between SDF and Congress.

Voter Turnout: 81.79%; M: 80.87%; F: 82.81%

OUTCOME: The 32/32 result in favour of SDF belies the keenness with which Elections 2009 was contested. This was yet again a head-on contest between Chamling and Bhandari and the other players did not even play spoilsport by splitting any votes. Congress was runner-up in all constituencies except Gnathang-Machong where SHRP’s Chopel Dzongpo Bhutia came second. He has now joined SDF. 2009 was also the first election since 1979 when the turnout of women voters was higher than male voters. This election also set the record for voter turnout in Sikkim with a nearly 82% turnout – more than 2.45 lakh of Sikkim’s little over 3 lakh voters exercising their franchise that year. And the voters delivered a unanimous verdict in favour of SDF, which was lavished with 67.52% of the votes cast. Of the 167 candidates, 106 forfeited their deposits and Congress, which emerged runner-up, got 28.31% of the votes.

In today’s table, we have made a slight change, along with the vote-share [in percentage] of the winning and runner-up candidates, we have also included the actual number of votes on by them. In brackets along with the name of the constituencies are the actual number of votes cast.
This is how Sikkim voted in 2009…

Constituency	Winner [with party and vote share in brackets]	Runner-up [with party and vote share in brackets]
Yuksom-Tashiding (BL) [8,235]	Dawcho Lepcha [SDF, 5,909; 71.97%,]	Aden Tshering Lepcha [INC, 1,666; 20.23%]
Yangthang [7,884]	Prem Lall Subba [SDF, 5,770; 73.19%]	Depan Hang Limbu [INC, 1,545; 19.60%]
Maneybung-Dentam [8,685]	Chandra Maya Subba [SDF, 6,252; 71.99%]	Laxuman Gurung [INC, 1,899; 21.87%]
Gyalshing-Barnyak [7,291]	Man Bahadur Darnal [SDF, 4,967; 68.13%]	Youa Raj Rai [INC, 1,557; 21.36%]
Rinchenpong (BL) [8,857]	Dawa Norbu Takarpa [SDF, 6,438; 72.69%]	Pema Kinzang Bhutia [INC, 2,145; 24.22%]
Daramdin (BL) [9,435]	Tenzi Sherpa [SDF, 6,507; 68.97%]	Pem Nuri Sherpa [INC, 1,807; 19.15%]
Soreong-Chakung [9,770]	Ran Bahadur Subba [SDF, 6,497; 66.50%]	Nar Bahadur Bhandari [INC, 2,378; 24.34%]
Salghari-Zoom (SC) [6,821]	Madan Cintury [SDF, 4,437; 65.14%]	Janga Bir Darnal [INC, 2,139; 31.40%]
Barfung (BL) [8,598]	Sonam Gyatso Bhutia [SDF, 6,049; 70.35%]	Lobzang Bhutia [INC, 2,197; 25.55%]
Poklok-Kamrang [9,146]	Pawan Chamling [SDF, 7,379; 80.68%]	Purna Kumari Rai [INC, 1,423; 15.56%]
Namchi-Singithang [6,982]	Pawan Chamling [SDF, 5,643; 80.97%]	Khush Bahadur Rai [INC, 1,009; 14.45%]
Melli [9,347]	Tulshi Devi Rai [SDF, 6,307; 67.48%]	Dil Kumari Chettri [INC, 2,454; 26.25%]
Namthang-Rateypani [9,106]	Tilu Gurung [SDF, 5,988; 65.76%]	Suk Bahadur Tamang [INC, 2,777; 30.50%]
Temi-Namphing [8,778]	Bedu Singh Panth [SDF, 4,577; 52.14%]	Lalit Sharma [INC, 2,837; 32.32%
Rangang-Yangang [8,145]	Chandra Bdr Karki [SDF, 5,558; 68.24%]	Avinash Yakha [INC, 2,361; 28.99%]
Tumen-Lingi (BL) [9,084]	Ugen T Gyatso Bhutia [SDF, 5,026; 55.33%]	Phuchung Bhutia [INC, 3,702; 40.75%]
Khamdong-Singtam [7,625]	Am Prasad Sharma [SDF, 4,298; 56.37%]	Nar Bahadur Bhandari [INC, 3,032; 39.76%]
West Pendam (SC) [7,755]	Neeru Sewa [SDF, 4,151; 53.53%]	Jagdish Cintury [INC, 3,088; 39.82%]
Rhenock [10,445]	Bhim Prasad Dhungel [SDF, 5,611; 53.72%]	Kedar Nath Sharma [INC, 4,168; 39.90%]
Chujachen [10,863]	Puran Kumar Gurung [SDF, 8,077; 74.35%]	Harka Raj Gurung [INC, 2,114; 19.46%]
Gnathang-Machong (BL) [6,959]	L.M. Lepcha [SDF, 4,077; 58.49%]	Chhopel Dzongpo Bhutia [SHRP, 1,677; 24.10%]
Namcheybung [9,274]	Bek Bahadur Rai [SDF, 5,877; 63.37%]	Em Prasad Sharma [INC, 2,954; 31.85%]
Shyari (BL) [7,971]	Karma Tempo Namgyal Gyaltsen [SDF, 5,034; 63.15%]	Kunga Nima Lepcha [INC, 2,753; 34.54%%]
Martam-Rumtek (BL) [9,981]	Menlom Lepcha [SDF, 6,392; 64.04%]	Rinzing Namgyal [INC, 3,027; 30.33%]
Upper Tadong [5,621]	Dil Bahadur Thapa [SDF, 3,148; 56%]	Arun Kr. Basnet [INC, 2,105; 37.45%]
Arithang [5,447]	Narendra Kumar Pradhan [SDF, 3,320; 60.95%]	Bharat Basnet [INC, 1,865; 34.24%]
Gangtok (BL) [5,731]	Dorjee Namgyal Bhutia [SDF, 3,506; 61.18%]	Maj. Tshering Gyatso Kaleon [INC, 1,928; 33.64%]
Upper Burtuk [7,514]	Prem Singh Tamang [SDF, 5,908; 78.63%]	Arun Kumar Rai [INC, 1,345; 17.90%]
Kabi-Lungchuk (BL) [7,482]	Thenlay Tshering Bhutia [SDF, 4,823; 64.46%]	Ugen Nedup Bhutia [INC, 2,659; 35.54%]
Djongu (BL) [5,957]	Sonam Gyatso Lepcha [SDF, 4,756; 79.97%]	Norden Tshering Lepcha [INC, 819; 13.77%]
Lachen-Mangan (BL) [5,101]	Tshering Wangdi Lepcha [SDF, 2,719; 53.30%]	Anil Lachenpa [INC, 1,940; 38.03%]
Sangha [1,980]	Phetook Tshering Bhutia [SDF, 980; 49.49%]	Tshering Lama [INC, 925; 46.72%]