DISQUALIFICATION OF SIKKIM CM TAMANG CUT DOWN BY 5 YRS
The Election Commission reduced the period of disqualification for Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang by about five years on Sunday, making him eligible to fight elections. His disqualification period of six years began on August 10, 2018 — the day he completed a year’s jail term in a corruption case.
The Election Commission reduced the period of disqualification for Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang by about five years on Sunday, making him eligible to fight elections.
His disqualification period of six years, during which he was barred from contesting polls, began on August 10, 2018 — the day he completed a year’s jail term in a corruption case.
It was to end on August 10, 2024. Now, his disqualification ends on September 10 . In an order issued on Sunday, EC reduced the disqualification period to one year and a month from six years under relevant provisions of the electoral law.
“I have full faith in God and the law of the country,” Tamang, who had requested the poll panel to waive his disqualification period, said. Tamang, whose Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) party won the assembly elections held in April, took over as chief minister on May 27. However, he could not contest the elections due to his disqualification. He has to contest assembly polls within six months of becoming the chief minister to hold the office.
For the by-elections to be held on October 21, the SKM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have struck an alliance. The BJP plans to contest two seats and Tamang could contest from the one allotted to his party.
Tamang served a prison sentence between 2017 and 2018 after being found guilty of misappropriation of government funds in a cow distribution scheme while he was the minister of animal husbandry in the 1990s.
As per the Representation of People Act, 1951, those convicted and imprisoned under the Prevention of Corruption Act are disqualified from contesting polls during the period of incarceration and until six years after release.
A case was registered in 2003 under the Prevention of Corruption Act that was subsequently repealed. Tamang has served the full sentence.
The EC order said Tamang’s disqualification stood reduced to one year and one month. “In other words, his disqualification period ended on September 10 this year and he can contest polls to continue as chief minister,” a senior functionary explained.
EC said Tamang approached the commission only when the elected representatives of his party, commanding a clear majority in the assembly of Sikkim, posed their faith in his leadership and when the governor, in recognition of the same, invited him to form the government.
Reacting to the development, Avinash Yakkha, a spokesperson of the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front, said, “All democratic institutions and their branches have succumbed to the power of politics and money in this country.”