TMC ally 1st off block to announce candidates for three Hills seats

Darjeeling: First off the block, Trinamool ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) on Sunday announced candidates for three assembly constituencies — Darjeeling, Kurseong, and Kalimpong.

The Anit Thapa-led BGPM fielded Bijoy Kumar Rai, former chairman of School Service Commission (SSC hill region), from Darjeeling. Amar Lama, the party's general secretary and an advocate from Kurseong, and Ruden Sada Lepcha, the sitting MLA from Kalimpong, were also named, with the latter renominated for the same seat.


The BJP won both Darjeeling and Kurseong seats during the 2021 assembly elections, while BGPM bagged the Kalimpong seat. The Darjeeling hills will vote in the first phase on April 23.

Rai recently retired as the headmaster of Darjeeling Govt High School and had previously served as president of the district school board. Apart from his academic career, he is known for his literary work and active involvement in several prominent social organisations in Darjeeling.

Lama, a lawyer, is a seasoned figure in Hills politics. He served as the general secretary of Akhil Bhartiya Gorkha League (ABGL) from 1996 to 2000. When Bimal Gurung formed Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in 2007, Lama was among its senior leaders. However, he left the party after his elder brother, Madan Tamang — then ABGL president — was hacked to death in broad daylight in 2010, allegedly by Morcha supporters. Since 2016, Lama had been a bureau member of the Jan Andolan Party, founded by former Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, before joining BGPM in 2021.

Lepcha was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Kalimpong constituency in 2021. Contesting as a candidate of the Binoy Tamang faction of GJM, he secured 58,206 votes. BJP candidate Suva Pradhan was the runner-up with 54,336 votes. The victory margin in the constituency was 3,870 votes.

Darjeeling is also witnessing a political churn due to the SIR. Politics in the hills has historically revolved around the question of Gorkha identity and belonging, and the deletion of a large number of names from electoral rolls has again brought the issue to the forefront. The situation also took a political turn, with posters appearing in the hills targeting Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, accusing him of remaining silent over the deletion of names during the revision process.

According to data from the Darjeeling district administration, the final electoral roll shows a net reduction of 1,44,648 voters in the district. The district had 12,92,857 electors as of Oct 27, 2025, during the continuous updation period. However, after door-to-door enumeration, verification, and the disposal of claims and objections, the final roll now lists 11,48,209 voters. The district falls under the Darjeeling LS constituency, which comprises five assembly segments: Darjeeling, Kurseong, Matigara–Naxalbari (SC), Siliguri, and Phansidewa (ST).

In Kurseong, 2,262 electors were deleted and 14,534 were under adjudication. In Darjeeling, 2,345 names were deleted, while 24,658 voters were under scrutiny. In Kalimpong, 1,792 electors were reportedly deleted from the rolls, while 6,790 names were under adjudication. Across the areas governed by Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the total stands at 6,399 deleted electors and 45,982 voters under adjudication.

The Darjeeling hills have been one of BJP's strongest political bastions in Bengal. The party won the Darjeeling LS seat four times consecutively. At the assembly level, too, the party maintained a strong presence. Neeraj Zimba currently represents the Darjeeling assembly seat as a BJP legislator. In Kurseong, Bishnu Prasad Sharma won as a BJP candidate but recently joined the All India Trinamool Congress — a move that observers say reflects the shifting political currents in the Hills.

Binoy Tamang, a senior leader in the Hills, said the deletion of Gorkha voters from the electoral list will have a negative impact on the upcoming assembly elections. He said it triggered an ethnic crisis and cited the potential for political disturbances in the region.