Delimitation of constituencies in Sikkim finalised

Gangtok, Sep 6 (UNI) The delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies in Sikkim has been finalised with the Delimitation Commission changing the territorial limits, number and status of certain constituencies.

Deputy Chief Electoral officer of Sikkim C P Dhakal said the Commission made the changes on the basis of the 2001 population census.

According to a notification issued by the Commission, which was distributed to the media yesterday, the changes were made in all the four districts of the state except the North.

In the North district, the number as well as the status of assembly seats remained unaltered with all the three seats reserved for the Bhutia-Lepcha communities as done earlier.

Sikkim has 32 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. Out of the 32 assembly seats, two are reserved for SC, 12 for the Bhutia-Lepcha Community(BL) and one for the Sangha. The Sangha seat covers the whole state.

The Commission shuffled a seat in between the West and South Districts.

In the West District, the number of assembly seats came down to eight from the earlier nine, while the number of seats in South district went up to eight from the earlier seven.

However, the total number of seats in the East and North remained unchanged with 12 and three respectively.

But the number of reserved seats in the West district went up with three of the eight seats reserved for BL community and one for SC. Earlier, no seats were reserved for the SC and only two seats were reserved for BL in the district.

In South district, out of the eight assembly seats, two were reserved for BL. Earlier, one seat was reserved for each BL and SC category.

The Commission reserved four seats for BL and one for SC in the East district which has 12 seats. Earlier, six seats were reserved for BL and one for SC in the district.

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