SKM comes back to power as it scores big riding on welfare schemes in Sikkim

On June 2, Sikkim’s ruling party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) sprung a surprise with its sweeping victory in the recently concluded State Assembly elections. The Himalayan state party swept 31 out of the total 32 seats by 58.38% vote share. The ruling party Chief Minister, Prem Singh Tamang, will return to power for his second consecutive term. The political observers say it is the party's welfare schemes, including women-centric schemes like Sikkim Aama Yojana’, ‘Bahini’, and ‘Vatsalaya’, which gave an edge to the regional party. On the other hand, the opposition party of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) has been reduced to a mere one seat with a 27.37% vote share. SKM’s landslide win also displaced the longest-serving former Chief Minister and SDF Founder-President Pawan Kumar Chamling. The voters also rejected the BJP, Congress, and the newly-floated Citizen Action Party.