A second term for Sikkim's ruling party
What happened
Sikkim Democratic Front won a second term in a row, extending its hold on the state assembly.
The SDF won 24 of the state's 32 seats.
It governed as part of the NDA alliance — a group of parties that team up to fight an election together, and share power afterward if they win enough seats between them.
What changed
The party in office added to its majority rather than losing ground, building on where it stood after the previous election.
It went from 19 seats to 24.
About 80.2% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot, a record for the state up to that point.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The tightest finish: Loosing Pachekhani, Sikkim was decided by just 5 votes — the narrowest margin, how far ahead the winner finished over whoever came second, anywhere in the state that year.
At the other extreme, Sangha, Sikkim was won by a margin of 47.6% of the vote.
Lachen Mangshila, Sikkim recorded the highest turnout in the state that year, at 85.9%.
Gangtok, Sikkim was the state's largest constituency by registered voters, with 13,303 names on the rolls.
The backdrop
SDF's own roots explain this year's result.
Pawan Chamling founded the Sikkim Democratic Front on 4 March 1993. The party won the 1994 assembly election, and Chamling served continuously as Chief Minister for the next 25 years until SDF's defeat in the 2019 election.