The Sikkim Legislative Assembly election of 2009 took place in April 2009, concurrently with the

2009 Indian general election General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With a registered electorate of 716 million and a turnout of 417 million voters, it was the l ...

. The elections were held in the state for all 32 legislative assembly seats along with the third phase of 2009 Indian general elections on 30 April 2009. The results were declared on 5 May 2009. The

Sikkim Democratic Front Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Sikkim. It was the ruling party in Sikkim from 12 December 1994 to 23 May 2019. History The party was founded by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 1993. It has ruled the ...

(SDF) further strengthened their majority in the Sikkim Assembly by winning all the seats. Incumbent

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Pawan Kumar Chamling Pawan Kumar Chamling Rai (born 22 September 1950) is an Indian politician and writer who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Sikkim from 1994 to 2019. He is the List of longest-serving Indian chief ministers, longest serving Chief Minister in ...

's Government returned for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term having won previous elections in 1994, 1999, and 2004.

Previous Assembly

In the 2004 Sikkim Legislative Assembly election, the SDF almost had a clean-sweep winning 31 of the 32 seats in the state.

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

was the only other party to win any seats, winning the

Sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

seat that is reserved for the monks and nuns of Sikkim's many monasteries. P.K. Chamling led SDF had already formed the previous two Governments in Sikkim having first formed the Government after the 1994 election, when they won 19 seats within a year of the party being formed), and then again after the 1999 election, when they increased their tally to 24 seats. Chamling's third term began on May 21, 2004, when he and his 11cabinate ministers were sworn in by the then

Governor of Sikkim The governor of Sikkim is the head of the Indian state of Sikkim. The governor is appointed by the president of India and is the nominal head of the state's executive power. This is a list of the governors of Sikkim. There are 19 governors ...

V. Rama Rao.

Background

With the tenure of the Sikkim Assembly scheduled to expire on 23 May 23, 2009, the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

announced on 2 March 2009, that the elections to the Sikkim Assembly would be held at the same time as the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Sikkim voted in the third phase of the 5-phase national election. Though SDF had provided external support to

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

's Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre since 2004, the SDF and Congress were the main political opponents in Sikkim. Ironically, the Congress was led in the state by Nar Bahadur Bhandari, mentor and former colleague of Chamling. In this election UDF was formed by coalition of BJP, INC and few other parties, which was thrown into disarray with its constituents appearing to go separate.

Schedule of election

Parties Contested

Results

The SDF went from strength to strength and this time won even the single seat that had eluded them in 2004. With a clean sweep of all 32 seats in the state, Chamling was sworn in for his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister by Governor B.P. Singh at the Gangtok Raj Bhawan on May 20, 2009. This Government included Neeru Sewa and Tilu Gurung who became the first ever women Cabinet ministers in Sikkim.

Results by constituency

References

{{Sikkimese elections State Assembly elections in Sikkim 2009 State Assembly elections in India 2000s in Sikkim April 2009 in India