Election Commission allows Sikkim CM Golay to contest polls

GANGTOK: In a major relief for Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay), the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday allowed him to contest elections.
Golay, otherwise barred from contesting for a period of six years since being convicted in a corruption case, had approached the ECI seeking exemption from the Section 8 of the Representation of People's Act.
Golay was convicted for corrupt practices when he was the minister for animal husbandry in the Pawan Chamling-led SDF government in 1996.Golay was sentenced to one-year in jail and he served the sentence ending on August 10, 2018.
Since he was ineligible to contest, Golay, also the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) party president, didn’t contest the assembly elections in April. His party won 17 of 32 assembly seats and Golay was elected the party leader and sworn in as the chief minister earlier on May 27. He is required to become an elected member within a period of six months since then.
The Election Commission in its order on Sunday, in exercise of the powers vested upon it under Section 11 of the RP Act, reduced the disqualification to one year and one month, paving way for Golay to contest the election.
The ECI noted that the year in which the offence was committed had provisions for at least two years of imprisonment for attracting disqualification has already been omitted by an amendment in 2018.
The ruling SKM welcomed the decision of the ECI.
“We welcome the decision of the ECI to allow our party president and chief minister to contest the elections,” said SKM spokesperson Jacob Khaling. Khaling said the decision vindicates the unmovable faith the party workers had Golay and his leadership.
“The opposition parties used to relentlessly throw documents stating that Golay cannot contest elections for six years. Such propaganda would have demoralised any party worker but our SKM workers remained dedicated and never lost hope. The relief given to Golay vindicates their faith and a result of their long struggle. We congratulate our party workers,” said the SKM spokesperson.
Following the relief, the SKM is likely to announce Golay as its candidate for the Poklok Kamrang constituency by-election. The party has left two other seats for the BJP to contest in the by-polls scheduled for October 21.