GUWAHATI A legislator who helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enter the 32-member Sikkim Assembly without winning a single seat has been named the party’s candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the Himalayan State.
The nomination for an Upper House berth is seen as a reward for Dorjee Tshering Lepcha who broke away from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) soon after the 2019 Assembly election along with nine others to join the BJP.
The SDF under Pawan Kumar Chamling had ruled Sikkim for almost 25 years from December 1994 until losing the May 2019 election narrowly to the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), which won 17 seats.
“Our central leaders have acknowledged Lepchaji’s contribution to making the party grow in Sikkim. This is what sets our party apart from others,” a State BJP leader said from Gangtok after Arun Singh, party’s national general secretary, announced Mr. Lepcha’s name.
The current term of SDF’s Hishey Lachungpa, the only Rajya Sabha member from Sikkim, is scheduled to end in February 2024.
Mr. Lepcha, 66, represents the Gnathang Machong Assembly seat in the Pakyong district. He was made the Public Works (Buildings and Housing) and Transport Minister during Mr. Chamling’s fifth term from 2014 to 2019.
His switchover to the BJP marked a significant political shift in the State where the battle — often one-sided as evident from the SDF and Sikkim Sangram Parishad winning all 32 seats in 2014 and 1989 respectively — has invariably been between regional parties.
The BJP’s tally in the Sikkim Assembly increased from 10 to 12 after it won the by-elections to two seats. The SKM’s tally increased to 19 after two MLAs from the SDF defected.
The BJP supports the SKM Government headed by Prem Singh Tamang, a former SDF leader.
Mr. Chamling is the lone SDF legislator in Sikkim.
