Riding a pro-incumbency wave, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) on Saturday swept all 32 Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seats in Sikkim. SDF president Pawan Kumar Chamling led the charge of his party’s run for a fourth consecutive term in office, winning both his Assembly constituencies — Poklok-Kamrang and Namchi-Singithang — in South Sikkim.

Senior SDF leader D N Takarpa, the Speaker of the seventh legislative assembly, won from Rinchenpong (BL) Assembly seat for a second term, while Menlom Lepcha (Martam-Rumtek-BL), R N Subba (Soreng-Chakung), C B Karki (Rangang-Yangang), K T N Gyaltsen (Shyari-BL), PS Tamang (Upper Burtuk) registered easy wins.

All four women candidates of the ruling party — Chandra Maya Subba (Maneybung-Dentam), Neeru Sewa (West Pendam-SC), Tulshi Devi Rai (Melli) and Tilu Gurung (Namthang-Rateypani) — made it to the state legislature.

Neither the opposition’s charge against Chamling for autocratic style of function, the dual nationality charge against him or the agitation by the apolitical outfit, Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) against the hydel projects, could impede the SDF’s landslide victory. Chamling himself won by an impressive margins of 5,956 votes from Poklok-Kamrang, polling a staggering over 70 per cent votes and inflicting a humiliating defeat on BJP nominee Padam Prasad Sharma who secured only 167 votes. The SDF president, who secured a record sixth term in the state legislature after being first elected from Damthang assembly constituency in 1985, also won from Namchi-Singhithang by a margin of 5,644 votes.

The main opposition party Congress and its architect Nar Bahadur Bhandari not only lost both Assembly seats — Khamdong-Singtam and Soreng-Chakung he contested — but his party too was blanked out. The only seat it had in the seventh Assembly, Sangha, eluded it this time with SDF candidate Phetook Tshering Bhutia defeating sitting Congress MLA Acharya Tshering Lama by 65 votes.