1973 Sikkimese general election

General elections were held in Sikkim in January 1973.^[1][2] The Sikkim National Party emerged as the largest party, winning nine of the 18 elected seats.^[3]

1973 Sikkimese general election

← 1970 10 and 23 January 1973 1974 →
18 of the 24 seats in the State Council
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party SNP SNC SJC Last election 8 3 – Seats won 9 5 2 Seat change 1 2 –

Electoral system

The State Council was established in 1953 by the Chogyal.^[4] It originally had 18 members, of which 12 were elected and six (including the President) appointed by the Chogyal.^[4] Of the 12 elected members, six were for the Nepali community and six for the Lepcha and the Bhutia communities.^[4] For the 1958 elections the number of seats was increased to 20 by adding one seat for the Sangha and an additional appointed member.^[4] In 1966 a further four seats had been added; one each for the Nepali and Lepcha/Bhutia communities, together with one for the Tsong and a scheduled caste seat.^[5]

Candidates for election to the Council had to be at least 30 years old, whilst the voting age was set at 21.^[4]

Election schedule

The election schedule was announced by the Election Commission on 23 September 1972.^{[6]: 3–65}

#	Poll Event	Date
1	Publication of final electoral rolls	24 October 1972
2	Last Date for filing nomination	31 October 1972
3	Last date for withdrawal of nominations	25 November 1972
4	Polling - Phase 1 (West, South districts)	10 January 1973
	Polling - Phase 2 (Gangtok, East, North districts)	23 January 1973
5	Date of Counting	29 January 1973
6	Announcement of Results	15 February 1973

Campaign

Prior to the elections the Sikkim State Congress and the Sikkim Janata Party merged to form the Sikkim Janata Congress.^[2]

Results

Party		Seats	+/–
	Sikkim National Party	9	+1
	Sikkim National Congress	5	+2
	Sikkim Janata Congress	2	–
	Independents	2	–
Appointed members		6	0
Total		24	0
Source: AC Sinha[7]

Constituency-wise

#	Constituency	Reservation	Name	Party
1	West	Sikkimese Nepali	Chattra Bahadur Chettri		Sikkim National Congress
2			Chandra Bahadur Rai		Sikkim National Congress
3		Bhutia-Lepcha	Thendup Tsering Bhutia		Sikkim National Party
4	South	Sikkimese Nepali	Durga Prasad Rai		Sikkim National Congress
5			Bhuwani Prasad Kharel		Sikkim Janata Congress
6		Bhutia-Lepcha	Khunzang Dorji		Sikkim National Party
7	Gangtok	Sikkimese Nepali	Ashok Tsering Bhutia		Sikkim National Party
8		Bhutia-Lepcha	Harka Bahadur Basnett		Sikkim National Party
9	East	Sikkimese Nepali	Nima Tenzing		Sikkim National Party
10			Kalzing Gyatso		Sikkim National Party
11		Bhutia-Lepcha	Bhuwani Prasad Dahal		Sikkim Janata Congress
12	North	Sikkimese Nepali	Netuk Lama		Sikkim National Party
13			Ugyen Palzor Kazi		Sikkim National Party
14		Bhutia-Lepcha	Kul Bahadur Chettri		Sikkim National Party
15	General	None	Kazi Lhendup Dorjee		Sikkim National Congress
16		SC	Purna Bahadur Khati		Independent
17		Tsong	Krishna Bahadur Limbu		Sikkim National Congress
18		Sangha	Peyching Lama[8]		Independent
Source: Election Committee[6]: 64–65

Appointed members

In addition to the elected members, six members were appointed to the Sikkim State Council by the Chogyal on 5 March; Traten Sherba Gyaltsen, Madan Mohan Rasaily, Chhoutuk Tsering Pazo, Dhan Bahadur Chettri, Kali Prasad Rai and Atang Lepcha.^[9]

Aftermath

Following the election, the Sikkim National Congress and Sikkim Janata Congress claimed that vote rigging took place in the South Sikkim constituency.^[10] They demanded that officials involved were arrested, but these demands were not met, leading to protests.^[2] The unrest led to the signing of a tripartite agreement on 8 May between the Choygal, Sikkimese political parties and the government of India. The agreement provided for the establishment of a responsible government under the supervision of a Chief Executive nominated by the Indian government.^[11][12]