Sikkim bypolls: Nominations of two candidates cancelled
Gangtok: The nominations of two candidates of Citizens’ Action Party (CAP) in Sikkim were rejected during the scrutiny process on Monday, officials said.
Bypolls are due in two Assembly seats in the mountain state in November month.
According to officials, the nomination of Pobin Hang Subba, CAP-Sikkim candidate from the Soreng-Chakung Assembly seat for the upcoming bye-poll was rejected by the returning officer during scrutiny on Monday.
This comes amid allegations of forgery, fraud and impersonation against CAP candidates for allegedly using documents and signatures of various individuals as their proposers without their consent.
Another candidate of CAP-Sikkim, Mahesh Rai for the byelection in the Namchi-Singhithang Assembly constituency was also rejected by the authority during scrutiny of nomination papers.
As per the official statement, the nomination of Rai was rejected due to a deficiency in the requisite number of proposers during the scrutiny process.
Meanwhile, the nomination papers candidates of ruling party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) were cleared during the scrutiny for the upcoming bypoll contest on November 13. The counting of votes will take place on November 23.
Bypolls became imminent in two assembly constituencies in Sikkim, which were left vacant after Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and his wife Krishna Kumari Rai resigned from their respective seats.
The Soreng-Chakung Assembly constituency fell vacant after the resignation of Chief Minister Tamang as he had contested from two seats during the 2024 Sikkim Assembly election.
The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, mandates that a legislator relinquish one of two Assembly constituencies within 14 days after the declaration of election results and can only represent one Assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, the Namchi-Singhithang seat was left vacant after the resignation of Krishna Kumari Rai.
Chief Minister Tamang contested this year’s state Assembly polls from two constituencies and won both seats by a margin of more than 7,000 votes.
His party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha swept the elections by winning 31 out of a total of 32 Assembly seats in the state.