In Sikkim, NOTA outdid Congress; CM got more votes than 31 BJP candidates
The Hindu
Sikkim Assembly election results: Congress candidates in Sikkim fall short of NOTA, while BJP trails behind ruling SKM in Assembly elections.
Candidates of the Congress, which ruled Sikkim for more than four years after its merger with India in 1975, polled 50 votes fewer than NOTA (none of the above) in the 12 seats the party contested in the Himalayan State on April 19.
The 31 candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did better than their Congress counterparts but their total tally of 19,956 votes was 618 fewer than what Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang garnered for his ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) in the two seats — Rhenock and Soreng-Chakung — he contested.
The results of the 32-member Sikkim Assembly were declared on Sunday. The SKM won 31 of them while the Sikkim Democratic Front led by former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling bagged one.
Mr. Tamang polled a total of 20,574 votes and he was the only candidate to score in five digits — 10,480 votes in Soreng-Chakung, his home constituency, and 10,094 in Rhenock.
A five-digit figure is a major achievement in a State with 4.62 lakh voters.
The Congress candidates mustered 1,228 votes across 12 constituencies, working out to 0.32% of the total votes polled. NOTA scored 1,278 in these seats, which was 0.99% of the total votes polled.
In 2019, all the 12 candidates of the BJP forfeited their deposits after managing to get 1.62% of the total votes polled. The Congress fared poorer that year with all its 24 candidates garnering 0.77% of the votes and forfeiting their deposits.
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