As Sikkim Gears Up For Swearing-In, All About SKM Boss Prem Singh Tamang

New Delhi: Sikkim is gearing up for the swearing-in of new Chief Minister after the just-concluded assembly elections. Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), Prem Singh Tamang, is set to take oath as chief minister of the Himalayan state on Monday. June 10.

Governor Lakshman Acharya will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Tamang and his Council of Ministers during the swearing-in ceremony at Paljor stadium.  

The swearing-in ceremony, which is likely to be attended by around 30,000 people, will commence at 4 pm, reported PTI. Security has been beefed up in the capital city of Sikkim, Gangtok, and elaborate arrangements have been put in place by the officials.

SKM Sweeps Sikkim Polls, Tamang Elected Unopposed

Legislature party leader of the SKM, Prem Singh Tamang, will be sworned-in as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for second time in a row.

In a party meeting of SKM, Tamang was unanimously elected the leader of the legislature party during a meeting of the SKM on June 2. At the meeting held on June 2 at the CM's official residence, SKM secretary general Arun Upreti proposed Tamang’s name as the legislature party leader and it was seconded by Sangha MLA Sonam Lama. Subsequently, he was unanimously elected the leader of the legislature party.

The SKM had bagged 31 of the 32 seats in the recently held assembly elections. While, the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for 25 years in a row till 2019, could win just one seat in the just-concluded assembly elections. Only twice before, in 1989 and 2009, had political parties, the Sikkim Sangram Parishad and the SDF, respectively, registered such landslide victories.

Who is Prem Singh Tamang

Prem Singh Tamang is famously known for rebelling against the then Sikkim chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and subsequently forming his own party, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, in 2013.

Born to Kalu Singh Tamang and Dhan Maya Tamang on February 5, 1968, he had graduated from a college in Darjeeling in neighbouring West Bengal and became a teacher in a government school in 1990. However, he quit his job only three years later and in 1994, co-founded the SDF, with which he remained associated for nearly 20 years, of which he was a minister for 15 years, before floating his party in 2013. The SKM won 10 seats in the 2014 assembly elections.

Tamang is regarded as an able organiser, administrator and fiery politician, who rode on a slew of development and welfare measures, besides his own personal charisma, to massively increase his party's seats and vote share. He was also convicted in a corruption case, following which he walked out of the prison in 2017. After being released from the jail, the SKM Boss has toiled hard to take his party where it is today.

(With PTI inputs)