Slowly and steadily the mood of the nation has started to unravel in India. On June 2, 2024, State Assembly Election results for Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim were announced. While the BJP returned to power in Arunachal Pradesh, the lotus failed to bloom in Sikkim. Voting was held for 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 32 assembly seats in Sikkim on April 19. While the poll fight often remains between the BJP and the Congress in other states, the Grand old party failed to impress the voters in Sikkim. In fact, reports suggest that Congress got less vote share than NOTA in multiple constituencies.
As per the Election Commission of India, BJP has a 5.18% voter share overall in Sikkim, Congress has 0.32% and NOTA has a 0.99% vote share. The highest vote share was bagged by SKM- 58.28 and second in the list is SDF which got 27.37% vote share.
Hence, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) secured a second term in Sikkim. In Sikkim, the SKM led by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang won 31 seats, while the SDF won one seat. A total of 32 seats were up for grabs in the Sikkim Assembly Elections 2024.
Congress getting less vote share than NOTA triggers a concern for the grand old party. Below is a list of Congress candidates who failed to cross the NOTA vote share-
- Tshering Pema Bhutia from Gnathang-Machong got only 46 votes, while NOTA on the same seat got 94 votes
- Mangal Subba from Yangthang got only 81 votes while NOTA got 85 votes
- Kapil Prasad Sapkota from Rhenok got 141 votes while NOTA got 162 votes
- Snummit Targen from Gangtok got 44 votes while NOTA got 62 votes
- Tanka Nath Adhikari from Khamdong Singtam got 70 votes while NOTA got 75
- Ganga Lepcha from Martam-Rumtek got 80 votes while NOTA got 132 votes
- Sumitra Roy from Arithang got 46 votes while NOTA got 49 votes
- Nar Bahadur Gurung from Maneybung-Dentam got 118 votes while NOTA got 145