BJP capitalises on weakened opposition in Arunacha

GUWAHATI: The BJP’s win at a canter in Arunachal Pradesh was a forgone conclusion but nobody, perhaps, thought Sikkim’s ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) will win in such a way, hands down.

The wave in SKM’s favour was such that even the state’s longest serving Chief Minister (1994-2019) Pawan Kumar Chamling had to bite the dust.

SKM won 31 of Sikkim’s 32 seats. The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which is the state’s principal opposition party, won the only other seat.

Interestingly, the winner here, Tenzing Norbu, was with the SKM earlier. He had joined the SDF after being denied a ticket by the ruling party.

The BJP, Congress and newly-floated Citizen Action Party drew a blank. In 2019, the SKM had won 17 seats as against the SDF’s 15. The SKM is a BJP ally and constituent of the National Democratic Alliance but the two parties had separately contested the polls.

Observers say the SKM’s various welfare schemes including ‘Sikkim Aama Yojana’, ‘Bahini’ and ‘Vatsalaya’ and the slogan ‘Garib Ka Sarkar’ played the trick for party.

Under Sikkim Aama Yojana which was introduced last year, a financial grant of Rs 20,000 is provided to eligible non-working, unwed, widowed, divorced or separated mothers within the age group of 18-59 years.

Bahini aims at providing 100 per cent access to free and safe sanitary pads to secondary and senior secondary school-going girls while Vatsalaya provides financial assistance upto Rs 3 lakh to Sikkimese couples without children, specifically catering to In Vitro Fertilization treatments.