Sikkim Democratic Front seeks action against Model Code of Conduct violations

A delegation of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) Party visited the office of the State Election Commission (SEC) on October 19 and submitted a written complaint regarding the upcoming Panchayat Elections.

In the said complaint it has been stated, “We would like to bring the following to your notice for early redressal as Model Code of Conduct is in operation as per your Notification/circular 476/SEC/2022 dated 11/10/2022 in this regard”.

SDF also found some cases of injustice that have been expressed through various forums and social media where the reservation of seats has not been done in proportion to the population as required under the law.

“The first reference we would like to bring to your notice is that of the Bhutia Lepcha (BL) community is allocated only 92 seats which are 8 percent of the number of seats available in total”, SDF wrote in the complaint letter.

The BL community represents close to 20 percent of the entire population of Sikkim.

“Therefore, this is in gross violation of Parliamentary justice in terms of overall representation leading to an approximate loss of 138 reserved seats in the Gram Panchayat and approximately 15 seats in the Zilla Territorial”.

SDF also claimed that it is surprising to note that the seats reserved for the BL community in the Territorial constituency (Zilla) are only found in Mangan District and no other district.

Such lapses will lead to adverse motivation and the rights and interest of  other communities of Sikkim in a very complex political situation.”
 
In the complaint, the SDF delegation has raised the following issues of how the incumbent Government is grossly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

“Many tenders are being floated by departments. Roads and Bridges are tendering in Maneybong Dentam and Central Pendam, etc. This will lead to voters being persuaded to vote in the SKM party interested candidates”, SDF stated in a press read.

“Party in power is sending their Ministers, MLAs, and nominated officials in their official vehicles to different areas under one pretext or the other to influence voters and get their candidate declared uncontested. Unfortunately, they are not adhering to their policy of Party less manner and not based on political party symbols”, it further added.

In view of the facts listed above SDF also requested the commission to immediately act on the same so that there is no political interference and complete adherence to the MCC in letter and spirit before the completion of the election process.