GANGTOK: BJP nominee DT Lepcha is ready to win the Rajya Sabha election in Sikkim uncontested with no different candidate submitting the nomination papers, officers stated on Tuesday. Lepcha, the MLA of Gnathang Machong in Pakyong district, would have anyway gained the election with the ruling SKM extending assist to him. The BJP and the SKM collectively account for 31 of the meeting’s whole 32 seats.
The stipulated time for the submitting of nomination ended at 3 pm, and solely Lepcha’s papers have been acquired by the workplace of the Returning Officer, the meeting secretariat stated. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will happen on Wednesday, it stated.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and BJP state unit president DR Thapa accompanied Lepcha when he filed his nomination papers on the meeting. Lepcha was a minister within the earlier SDF authorities, and held portfolios comparable to Buildings & Housing, and Transport.
In the 32-member Sikkim meeting, SKM has 19 members, BJP has 12 and the SDF has one member. BJP didn’t win any seat within the final meeting elections, wherein the SKM got here to energy. Lepcha together with 9 MLAs of the SDF converted to the BJP, making it the second largest social gathering within the meeting in a single day. Later, the BJP additionally gained by-elections to 2 seats, taking its tally to 12.
Lepcha’s Rajya Sabha nomination is being thought of as his reward for serving to the BJP develop into a serious participant within the Himalayan state. The lone Rajya Sabha seat within the state is at current held by two-term MP Hishey Lachungpa of the opposition SDF. His tenure will finish on February 23. The polling for the election was scheduled on January 19.
