2022 Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election

Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election will be held on 26 June 2022 to elect all 45 members of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, in West Bengal state, India.^[2][3]

2022 Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election

← 2012 26 June 2022 2027 →
All 45 seats in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration 23 seats needed for a majority
Registered	7.32 lakh
Turnout	59.05% [1]
Majority party Minority party Third party   BGPM IGJF Leader Anit Thapa Ajoy Edwards Binay Tamang Party BGPM IGJF AITC Leader since 2022 2021 2021 Leader's seat Kurseong Darjeeling Sadar 3 Dali-Bloomfield Last election New party New party 0 seats Seats won 27 8 5
Chief executive before election vacant Chief executive after election Anit Thapa BGPM

Background

The previous election took place in 2012 which was won by GJM.^[4] In 2017, all GJM councillors resigned from their posts stating that GTA failed to fulfill their expectations and aspirations of the people.^[5] Sooner Binay Tamang was appointed by the Government of West Bengal as acting chairman of the body. Later Anit Thapa was appointed as its acting chairman.

Following the municipal election all over the state, West Bengal State Election Commission announced the date of poll on 27 May 2022. GJM leader and previous chairman of GTA, Bimal Gurung started a hunger strike in demand for the postponement of the election, just after the poll date was announced.^[6] BJP also supported Gurung and stated that GTA is not a permanent solution of the Gorkha issues.^[7]

Schedule

The election schedule was declared by West Bengal State Election Commission on 27 May 2022.^[8]

Poll event	Schedule
Notification Date	27 May
Last Date for filing nomination	3 June
Scrutiny of nomination	4 June
Last Date for withdrawal of nomination	6 June
Date of poll	26 June
Date of counting of votes	29 June

Parties and alliances

The party which won the last election, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha officially didn't fielded any candidates, however its members contested from all 45 seats as independent candidates.^[9] On the other hand, Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in the state confirmed that they will contest from only 10 seats.^[10] BGPM broke its alliance with TMC and decided to contest from 36 seats on their own.^[11][12] Newly formed Hamro Party also fielded candidates in all seats.^[13]

CPI(M) fielded 12 candidates and Congress fielded 5 candidates in the polls.^[14] A total of 277 candidates, including 169 independents, are contesting the GTA election. BJP and its allies - Gorkha National Liberation Front, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists and All India Gorkha League decided not to contest the GTA election.^[15]

Party		Symbol	Alliance	No. of contesting candidates
	Independents supported by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gurung) (GJM(G))	IND	None	45
	Hamro Party (HP)	IND		45
	Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM)	IND		35
	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))		Left Front	12
	All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)		AITC+	10
	Indian National Congress (INC)		UPA	5
	Independents (IND)	None	None	124

Winning candidates

Constituency Number	Constituency Name	Winning Candidate	Winning Party	Note
Darjeeling Sadar Subdivision
1	Rimbick-Lodhoma	Norden Sherpa	BGPM
2	Relling-Kaijalia	Satish Pokhrel	BGPM
3	Pul-Bijanbari-Goke	Bhupendra Chettri	HP	Joined BGPM
4	Bloomfield-Rishihat	Binoy Tamang	TMC	Joined Congress, expelled from Congress later[16]
5	Tukver	Suraj Rai	Independent
6	Lebong-Badamtam	Yogendra Pradhan	BGPM
7	Phoobsering-Pandam	Jiten Rai	HP
8	Darjeeling-I	Pratim Subba	HP
9	Darjeeling-II	Robert Chettri	HP
10	Darjeeling-III	Ajoy Edwards	HP
11	Darjeeling-IV	Ruben Das Pradhan	HP
12	Ghoom-Jorebunglow	Pramoskar Blone	HP	Joined BGPM
13	Chongtong-Marybong-Tamsang	Sandeep Chettri	BGPM
14	Sukhia-Maney Bhanjyang	Uday Dewan	BGPM
15	Pokhriabong-Chamung	Noel Bomzon	BGPM
16	Nagari-Dhajia	Anjul Chauhan	BGPM
17	Rungbull-Dhotria	Rajesh Chauhan	BGPM
Kurseong Subdivision
18	Sonada-Pacheyang	Anos Thapa	BGPM
19	Takdah-Glenburn	Sunny Tamang	HP
20	Takling-Peshok	Mani Kumar Rai	BGPM
21	Takdah-Teesta Valley	Dhendup Pakhrin	BGPM
22	Mungpoo-Labdah	Ratan Kumar Thapa	BGPM
23	Seeyok-Gopaldhara-Okaity	Dhurba Bomzon	TMC
24	Mirik-Thurbo-Duptin	Milesh Rai	TMC
25	Soureni	Arun Sigchi	BGPM
26	Sukna-Panighatta	Paresh Tirkey	TMC
27	Tung-St. Mary's	Nuri Sherpa	BGPM
28	Kurseong-Deorali	Shyam Sherpa	BGPM
29	Kurseong-Giddapahar	Anit Thapa	BGPM
30	Pankhabari-Ambootia-Longview	Kalpana Pradhan	BGPM
31	Mahanadi-Tindharia	Nowraj Chettri	BGPM
32	Sittong-Latpanchar	Anit Thapa	BGPM
Kalimpong Subdivision
33	Chibo-Tashiding	Senora Namchu	BGPM
34	Homes-Bhalukhop	Bikash Rai	Independent	Supported BGPM
35	Bong-Durpin	Suman Gurung	TMC
36	Dungra-Pudung	Palden Tamang	Independent
37	Algarah-Dalapchand	Dawa Tenzi Sherpa	BGPM
38	Lava-Lingsay	Kumar Sharma	Independent	Supported BGPM
39	Rongpo-Munsong	Birey Rai	Independent	Supported BGPM
40	Pedong	Kamal Subba	BGPM
41	Gidabling-Nimbong	Sanchabir Subba	BGPM
42	Relli-Samthar	Hemant Rai	BGPM
43	Gorubathan	Ratan Thapa	BGPM
44	Samsing-Kumai	Harkaman Chettri	BGPM
45	Rongo-Today-Jaldhaka	Lakpa Namgyal Bhutia	BGPM

Results

Political Party		Seats Won	Net Change in Seats	Vote Share
	Independent supported by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gurung)*	2	43
	Hamro Party*	8	8
	Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha*	27	27
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	0	-
	All India Trinamool Congress	5	5
	Indian National Congress(INC)	0	-
	Independent	3	3
Total		45		100

" * " denotes parties that are contesting the election as independent candidates (not with any party symbols)

Aftermath

After the election result was out, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that Trinamool Congress had alliance with BGPM.^[17] BGPM president Anit Thapa went to meet Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata after a few days.^[18]

All 45 elected member took oath on 13 July. BGPM had the majority on their own as they had won 27 seats. BGPM along with its ally TMC, and other three independent members, formed the board.^[19] Anit Thapa became the chief executive of GTA while Rajesh Chauhan became its chairman. Their oath taking ceremony took place on 14 July in the presence of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.^[20]