Dorjee Tshering Lepcha is declared as the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Sikkim. With this move, he becomes the first representative of a national party from the State in the Upper House of Parliament.
Thanking the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha-SKM and Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang Golay, State BJP in charge Dilip Jaiswal indicated the move “is a better sign for the future and development” of this Himalayan State.
Lepcha was elected to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly from the Gnathang Machong constituency twice, in 2014 and 2019.
Since Sikkim elects only one member to the Rajya Sabha through indirect voting by State legislators, his nomination is a noteworthy development. The tenure of SDF’s Rajya Sabha member Hishey Lachungpa will end in February.
Besides, the term of 68 other Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union Ministers, is set to end later this year. Elections have been called in Sikkim for the single Rajya Sabha seat.
Dilip Jaiswal said there won’t be requirement for holding an election as the party has an alliance with the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha-SKM and “the BJP has 12 MLAs while SKM has 19”.
Both parties have been political partners even before 2019 but the later had broken the ties. The SDF MLAs’ induction helped the BJP’s presence felt in Sikkim.
It is remarkable the BJP emerged as the main Opposition in this Northeastern State owing to a section of the Sikkim Democratic Front or SDF MLAs joining the BJP. The Saffron Party didn’t win a single seat in the Assembly polls of 2019.
The BJP achieved a foothold in the State subsequently, starting with the defection of 1o MLAs from the Pawan Chamling-led SDF in August 2019. As a result, the BJP won two of three Assembly bypolls and made it a significant player in Sikkim’s politics.
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