Chamling set to become longest serving CM

The only politician of India to celebrate silver jubilee as the chief minister breaking the record of late Communist leader Jyoti Basu who is considered longest serving chief minister by holding the post in West Bengal for more than 23 years from June 21,1977 to Nov 5,2000.

The party got majority 55 per cent vote share in multi- corned contest in the state.

State Chief Minister Pawan Chamling won from both Rangang- yangang and Namchi- singhithang Assembly constituencies with huge margin.

The Assembly elections, which were held alongside the Lok Sabha polls, seem to matter more to the people in Sikkim than others.

The SDF also won the lone Lok Sabha seat when its candidate P D Rai defeated main rival Tek Nath Dhakal with approximately 42000 votes. Since the state sends only one member to the lower house due to its low population, so people were more excited about Assembly polls . He Chamling was born on September 22,1950 at Yangang South Sikkim. He joined politics in 1973 and In 1982 he was elected as the President of Yangyang Gram Panchayat at the age of 32 years and three years later he was elected to Sikkim Legislative assembly for the first time in 1985.

He was elected to the Fourth Legislative Assembly from Damthang Constituency securing 96 per cent of votes and was inducted as Minister for Industries, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992.

He formed the Sikkim Democratic Front party on March 4, 1993 with the core principle to uphold democracy, justice, liberty and development aspirations of the people which swept the polls in the 1994 Assembly elections and subsequently led his party to massive victory in the assembly elections held in the year 1999, 2004 , 2009 and 2014.

The party has won Assembly polls five times in a row, and on every occasion the party has won clear and decisive mandate by getting absolute majority in the assembly.

The Chief Minister has set the target making the state poverty- free by 2017 and at present it has the lowest percentage of people below the poverty line ( BPL).

An avid writer and poet, he writes under the pen name Pawan Chamling Kiran.

He has immensely contributed to literary and cultural activities in the Himalyan state and established Nirman Prakashan in the year 1977.

Chamling has received several prestigious awards and honours in various fields, including Chintan Purashkar ( 1987) by Sikkim Sahitya Parishad for the best poem, Thekong Ambassador of Peace ( 2010) by the Pang Lhabsol Committee; Bhanu Puraskar ( 2010) by Sikkim Sahitya Parishad; Leadership and Good Governance Award ( 2009) by the Universal Peace Federation; Doctor of Philosophy( Honoris Cousa 2003) by Sikkim Manipal University.

Man of the Year ( 1998) by Biographical Institute, US; Greenest Chief Minister of India ( 1998) by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi; Bharat Siromani ( 1996) by Shiromani Foundation, New Delhi ( Presented by the Vice- President of India) for National integration and preservation of democracy in the State are some of the other awards received by Chamling.