Sikkim Chief Minister and SKM supremo Prem Singh Tamang is contesting from two assembly seats - Soreng-Chakung and Rhenock - instead of Poklok-Kamrang constituency which he won in 2019.
Elections to the 32-member Sikkim Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seat in the Himalayan state will be held on April 19.
Tamang is banking on welfare measures of his government like free LPG cylinder to all households every quarter, Rs 40,000 annual cash transfer to the women head of family under ‘Aamaa Yojana’, extra increment to indigenous people in state government service for raising an additional child, an assistant to take care of infants for one year and regularisation of service of 27,000 temporary government employees among others to win the elections.
The 56-year-old Sikkim Krantikari Morcha supremo is locked in a multi-cornered contest from the Rhenock assembly seat, in which his old ministerial colleague Som Nath Poudyal is one of the five rivals. The other candidates in the fray are Kapil Prasad Sapkota (Congress), Prem Chhetri (BJP), Laxmi Sharma (SRP) and Tika Ram Sharma (CAP-S).
Out of 18,200 voters in the Rhenock assembly constituency, 9,000 are male voters and 9,200 female voters.
Bishnu Kumar Sharma the sitting SKM MLA of Rhenock Assembly constituency was not renominated from the constituency as the Tamang is contesting from the seat.
In the Soreng-Chakung assembly constituency, Tamang is locked in a quadrangular contest with Puran Singh Subba (BJP), AD Subba (SDF) and Pobin Hang Subba (CAP-S).
Soreng-Chakung Assembly constituency has 17,789 voters of which are 8,269 male voters and 8,420 female.
Tamang’s elder son Aditya Golay is the sitting MLA from the Soreng-Chakung Assembly. Tamang had earlier won from the Soreng-Chakung in three successive elections between 1994 and 2004 as the then-ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) candidate.
He had defeated the Sikkim Sangram Parishad (SSP) nominee Tika Gurung in 1994 and 1999 assembly polls by more than 1,000 votes from the Chakung seat as it was known then.
Tamang had defeated Satish Mohan Pradhan of Congress in 2004 assembly polls by 6,501 votes.
In 2009, Tamang shifted to the Upper Burtuk assembly constituency from where he was selected for a fourth term defeating his nearest Congress rival Arun Kumar Rai by 1345 votes.
The diminutive leader later raised a banner of revolt against the then Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling after he was denied a berth in the Council of Ministers and later formed his own political party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) in 2013.
He won a fifth term as an MLA by defeating the then SDF heavyweight D R Thapa by 573 votes in a close contest from the Upper Burtuk assembly constituency.
Tamang, however, did not contest the 2019 assembly elections in which his party, SKM, romped to power winning 17 seats against 15 by the SDF.
After becoming chief minister he contested the byelection from the Poklok-Kamrang assembly seat which the SDF supremo Chamling had vacated after winning from two seats.
