The counting of votes for the Assembly elections in Sikkim will start at 6 am on Sunday, amid predictions of heavy rainfall during the entire day by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). All 32 Assembly seats in Sikkim voted on April 19. In the mountainous border state, the main contest is between the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), with both national parties the BJP and the Congress also in the fray as bit players. This time, the outcome is expected to be close. Sikkim recorded 79.88% polling in the Assembly elections, slightly less than the polling for the 2019 Assembly polls, which was 81.43%. After clinching the 2019 polls, Prem Singh Tamang (better known as P S Golay) became the Chief Minister as the SKM won a majority with 17 seats, with the then incumbent SDF reduced to 15 seats. In 2014, SDF chief Pawan Kumar Chamling had become the CM for the fifth time in a row after his party won 22 seats. Golay had himself begun his political journey as part of the SDF, before he rebelled against Chamling in 2009, and left the SDF to found the SKM in 2013. In its first Assembly elections in 2014, the SKM made a splash, winning around 40% of the votes and 10 seats. Since then, it has maintained close ties with the BJP at the national level, even though formal alliances have been on and off. The ruling SKM is confident of being re-elected for the second straight time. Asserting that the SKM has a strong hold on all 32 Assembly seats, party spokesperson Bikash Bashet said, “We are confident of winning all the seats. We have a stronghold in all 32 seats and as per the feedback of the party cadres, we have received solid support in the polling. SKM cadres are confident and excited, and ready to celebrate in a victory rally.” The SDF, too, is upbeat about making a “historic comeback", after spending five years in the opposition benches. It received a boost in November 2023, when former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia’s Hamro Sikkim Party merged with it. "Expectations within the SDF are very high that we will form the government this time by winning anywhere between 18 to 26 seats. After being in the opposition for the last five years, the mood of the SDF cadres is very upbeat as they have worked hard over these five years to ensure a historic comeback in 2024," said SDF spokesperson M K Subba.
