Sikkim: Citizens of Linkey ward under Pakyong district to boycott panchayat poll over wrong reservation seat

As a mark of protest, people of Linkey ward (ward 6) under Pakyong district have decided not to file any nomination for the Panchayat and to boycott the ward Panchayat election till the correction is made against the blunder made by the concerned department. 

They are even ready to orchestrate the black flag protest and not to vote if their desired reservation is Tribal (BL). 

Senior Citizen Rinzing Dorjee Bhutia from Linkey East Pakyong said: "Our main grievance is that in our ward Linkey majority of people are belonging to Scheduled Tribe specifically BL which is more than 90 per cent but as per the notification this time there is be OBC seat which is no way possible and even the OBC members of our village want a candidate from BL or Tribal and we have already passed a resolution and we have submitted to Secretary Rural Development Department CS Rao but he said it cannot be undone as Model Code of Conduct is already in place".

Hence as a mark of protest, the citizens of Linkey ward have decided to abstain from filing nominations and demanded the concerned department change the seat reservation pattern.

"If not done then we are even ready to raise the black flag, we will even gherao offices but we want a tribal seat for our ward", said Rinzing Dorjee Bhutia.

The resolution submitted to Secretary reads "The self-explanatory Resolution' adopted unanimously by the voters of Ward No- 6 Linkeyunder 21 Linkey Parkha GP unit in Gnathang-Machong constituency, East Sikkim, during an emergency meeting conducted due to the adoption of an illegal and unconstitutional method in allotting seat reservation formula, particularly in our ward No-6 Linkey, by which misunderstanding and animosity amongst peace-loving people of the village are in intensification and village loving harmony is under threat.

Hence, due to the above circumstances, the meeting unanimously passed the resolution to boycott the ward Panchayat election till the correction is made against the blunder made by the SEC and correction is done in the public interest as per the safeguard and protection guaranteed under the provision of Article 371F of our Constitution of India. Let peace prevail in this sensitive border state of Sikkim. Thanking you in anticipation. 

A total of 429951 voters cast votes for the panchayat election. The election will be held in 122 Territorial Constituency (Zilla Panchayat), 191 Gram Panchayat Unit, 1147 wards with 207708 male and 202243 female votes. Election Commission Decides To Conduct Eco-Friendly & Digitized General Panchayat Elections.