Elections and Casteist Politics Author(s): Jyotirmoy Chakraborty Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, No.

43/44 (Oct. 21 - Nov. 3, 2000), pp. 38053807 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4409883 Accessed: 27/02/2009 04:48
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SIKKIM

Elections Politics

and

Casteist

Elections in Sikkimcontinue to be largely determinedby caste and ethnic loyalties. The October 1999 election results show that the electorate is significantlypolarised on the backwardclass issue. Themany regional parties and even a nationalparty like the Congress(I)have had to suitablyfine-tune their manifestosto suit regional aspirations.
JYOTIRMOYCHAKRABORTY

fter the election results of the 6th assembly elections in Sikkim, the . AXSikkim DemocraticFrontsupremo P K Chamling said that "the people of Sikkim have discarded casteist politics, though the opposition fought to entire election on a casteist card" (Weekend Review, October 8-14, 1999). Many political analysts dealing with elections have opined that India is a caste-ridden society and the voters tend to vote on caste lines. A contrary opinion believes that caste is no longer a potent force in influencing the voting choice of the people [Jena and Baral 1989:48]. More than 75 per cent population of Sikkim is of Nepalese origin. The Nepalese are a caste-ridden society and the voting behaviour of the electorate was expected to be on caste lines as is usual in other parts of India. Indeed the elections were characterised by the electorate demonstrating loyalties towards its specific caste representatives, and caste associations played an increasingly dominant role. Before Sikkim's merger with the Indian Union in 1975 and immediately after the minority Bhutia and Lepcha Community (BL) dominated the state politics and administration. The first assembly election held in October 1979 witnessed a greatpoliticalupheaval.The Sikkim Janata Parishad (SJP) was formed and emerged as a strong political force winning 17 seats in the 32 member assembly under the It was, leadershipof NarbahadurBhandari. perhaps, Bhandari's anti-merger stand in 1979 which played a role in his victory [Ghosal 1997:25]. Bhandari became the first chief minister of Sikkim. Economic and Political Weekly

In the 1985 elections Bhandari rode successfully to power on a sympathy wave in his favour. He contested this time as the leader of the Sikkim SangramParishad (SSP) which won 30 seats. The elections also threw up several unlikely winners. The prestigious Gangtok seat was bagged by a marwari businessman. In the aftermath of the elections the Sikkimese felt the necessity to reserve seats for the Sikkimese Nepalese [Ghosal 1997:26]. During the elections of 1989 all the political parties raised this issue, along with others of ethnic sentiments and of social significance. Bhandari projected himself as pro-Nepalileaderanddemanded seat reservations for the Nepalese of Sikkimese origin. At the same time he was in favour of keeping the reserved seats for the BL intact.In this election, R C Poudyal, the Rising Sun Party's supremo also projected himself as pro-Nepalianddemanded more reserved seats for the Nepalese at par with their'numericalstrength. As a result, he lost the faith of the BL community. The thirdpolitical force, the Congressremained as a party of the plainsmen. Bhandari emerged as the only choice, for his noncommunal image appealed to the large section of the Nepalese as well as BhutiaLepcha people of Sikkim. All the 32 seats werewon by the Sikkim SangramParishad and Bhandari became the chief minister for the third consecutive term. Bhandari, a teacher-turned politician, ruled Sikkim for more than 14 years. During his tenure the higher caste Nepalese dominatedevery sphereof governance. The pradhans captured the higher echelons of the administrationand representatives of the bahun and the chettri communities dominated Sikkim's political scenario. These upper castes were

referred to as the NBCs (the newars, the bahuns and the chettris) or the non-backward classes. A large section of the Nepalese especially the other backward classes (OBC) among them remained neglected. However after Bhandari's defeat in the 1994 elections, the NBCs too gradually lost their foot-hold in Sikkim politics. One ofBhandari's close associates, Pawan brokeaway to forma new KumarChamling, the Sikkim Democratic Front(SDF). party, Chamling projected himself as a leader of the downtrodden.The SDF emerged as the representative of the backward classes. The SDF's victory ended Bhandari's long domination of Sikkim politics. The SDF won 19 seats capturing 42 per cent of the total valid vote while the SSP got only 10 seats, 35.17 per cent of the valid vote. The tribals, especially the bhutias and the lepchas who were earlier loyal to Bhandari initially, deserted him believing he had ignored them. All the seven seats of the south district went to the SDF. The SSP saved its face by winning eight seats in the east district where the upper caste Nepalese dominated. In the west district they won two out of the seven seats.

Contemporary Scene
Bhandari and his party attempted reestablish the domination of the SSP. However, the results of October 1999 of the sixth assembly election greatly disheartened the former chief minister, and his party. The SDF received a massive mandate in 25 of the assembly constituencies while the SSP won only seven seats. The SSP's downfall can be related to the increasing ethnic calculations that characterised the assembly elections. Sikkim with an electorate of 2.5 lakhs is one of the smallest states in the country. It has 32 assembly seats, of which 12 are reserved for the bhutia and the lepcha communities (BL), two for the scheduled castes, one for the sangha (monasteries) andthe remaining 17 for the general castes. The voters of the sangha seat are the lamas of bhutia lepcha origin, thereby making 1-3seats at the disposal of the BL group. Similarly, all the scheduled castes of Sikkim are of Nepalese origin, so that a total of 19 seats belong to the Nepalese. There were 105 candidates in fray for the 32 assembly seats. In the latest electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of Sikkim, the names of the castes or sub-castes are

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mentioned against names of the electors. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has produced a caste-wise distribution of the voters in Sikkim's different constituencies (see Table). The lepchas, bhutias and the sherpas of Sikkim are considered scheduled tribes..The Nepalese are actually a cluster of communities who share a common language - Nepali. The Nepali community includes general castes iike newar, bahun,chettri,jogi, sanyasi, thami, etc, and scheduled castes like kami, damai, sarki and maji as well. There are also the other backward castes (OBC) like rai, limbu, tamang, mangar, gurung, bhujel and sunwar.The lattercomprise the largest section of the electorate. The Table shows that only in the east district the NBCs and other high castes comprise 32.13 per cent of the electorate. However, in the other two districts south andwest, these groups have little influence with only 25.73 per cent and 21.60 per cent of votes respectively. In the north district these groups have only 10.46 per cent of voters. The tribals are in majority in north district with 73.26 per cent of voters. Interestingly, both in the south and west districts the OBC has the largest number of voters, i e, 47.39 per cent and 52.04 per cent respectively. Thus any party that receives the support of the OBCs and the tribals will eventually dominate Sikkim politics. In the electoral process however there are a numerous factors which play an important role in voter mobilisation. Hence, demographic composition of the electorate alone cannot help electoral predictions. Selection of candidates, ethnic balance, different issues raised by the parties, campaign strategy and performances of the ruling party, etc, are all equally important in determining the election results.

Towards Ethnic Representation

In a multi-ethnic situation, the credibility of the candidate and the ethnic balance play a key role in candidate selection. Often, the nomination of a particular candidate generates initial rivalry within the party particularly, when there are a numberof aspirants.This results in prompting dissidence which may result in the swelling of opposition ranks. The leader has to tackle the situation with all the effort at his command. His choice has to consider the ethnic composition of the electoral area and the candidate's acceptability. In the October elections the

SDF chief, Chamling handled the situation more efficiently, than his counterpart. Some important political personalities of different ethnic origins like the former Congress(I) general secretary R B Subba of the limbu community and P K Pradhan, former chief secretary of Sikkim, of the progressive newar community of Sikkim joined the SDP. C L Rai joint secretary of the SSP along with 400 supporters also joined the SDF (Sikkim Observer, September 1-3, 1999). This helped Chamling strengthen his political base among the other backwardclasses. On the other hand, the SSP in its selection, alienated several erstwhile loyalists. SSP leader, Gyatso Lepcha, joined the SDF, as he was deprived of a ticket to the Ranka constituency. The SSP similarly rejected the candidature of Nima Lepcha in the Rumtek constituency. Only two lepcha candidates got the SSP ticket in the 12 BL reserved seats, which hurt the sentiments of the lepchas. The SDF fielded five lepcha candidates in all. The decision of these politicians from different ethnic backgrounds to join the SDF encouraged the general voters of the same group. In his first list of candidates Chamling selected old veteran leaders with a clean image. He was able to control the number of defections from his partythereafter.The SDF legislators who had not been given party tickets in this election were accommodated in the central committee or in some other position. Chamling strengthened his position by appointing the leaders of differentethnicorigins like lepcha,bhutia and the Nepalese, as general secretaries to the party's central committee (Sikkim Observer, September 1-3, 1999). In contrast, the SSP chief Bhandari fielded mostly new faces after six of his old colleagues joined the SDF or the Congress. He also tactically erred by neglecting his own NBC group who were in majority in the east district. Unfortunately he chose only four NBC members out of the total 17 general seats. Bhandari

contested from two of these four seats and his wife contested one seat. This created a dilemma andfrustration among the NBCs. Bhandari had alienated himself from a large sections of the OBCs as well. Further he failed to win the sympathy of the bhutialepcha group,when he fielded a sherpa candidate from Rakdong-Tintek in BL seat ignoring Sonam Tshring, a local candidate and former minister. This sent a wrong signal to the NBC group. The SDF also fielded a sherpa candidate to counter the SSP. The Denzong Sherpa Association expressed its thanks to both the parties, considering it 'historic' and 'bold' (Sikkim Observer, September 1-3, 1999). Perhaps, the SSP fielded sherpa candidates to draw the sympathy of the sherpas - 10.95 per cent of the voters that could be the deciding factor in a constituency like Temi-Tarku where Bhandari's wife contested. Here too, the SDF also fielded a sherpa candidate thus neutralising the SSP's gain.

Electoral Issues
Besides the SDF and the SSP, the other contending parties in this election were the Congress(I), CPI(M) and a few independent candidates. All the parties played on the complex communal divide by espousing some ethnic issues or the other. Chamling, in a bid to further strengthen his base, met the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, in September, 1995 and demanded proportionalreservation of seats to the Nepalese in the state legislature. This also served to counter the proNepali upper caste impage of Bhandari (The Telegraph, September 4, 1995). Chamling also asked for the inclusion of five more sub-castes in the list of OBCs. In July 1999, Chamling requestedthe prime minister to restore the Nepali seats in the assembly, which were scrapped by the centre in 1979, and subsequently the SDF campaigned on this issue (The Telegraph, July 12,1999). The SSP andthe Congress(I) too demanded a reservation of Nepali

Table: Ethnic/Caste Groupwise Distribution of Electorate in Sikkim (Per Cent) Name of the District East district West district South district Northdistrict Lepcha Bhutia Sherpa OBC NBCand SC OtherHigh Castes 32.13 21.60 25.73 10.46 6.81 4.72 5.19 1.59 Others

6.62 8.17 5.30 41.67

1311 6.48 6.36 28.43 73.26

3.05 5.58 5.46 3.16

30.56 52.04 46.86 12.53

7.72 1.41 3.99 2.16

Source: Calculated from datafrom National Informatics volXIV, No 35. Observer, Centre, published by Sikkim

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seats. Both the parties also favoured reservation for the Tsongs (limbus), a Nepali ethnic group. The Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi demanded reservation of seats for the sherpas as well during her visit to Gangtok (The Telegraph, June 22, 1999). In their manifesto the SDF and SSP parties had demanded the strict observation of Article 371(F) of the Constitution which grants special status to Sikkim. All the partiesraised different ethnic and nonethnic issues to acquire political mileage in these elections. The SDF and SSP demanded the implementation of, the sons of the soil policy. SSP expressed that their party would fight for the reservation of seats for the limbus and tamangs while the SDF wanted the gurungs, limbus and tamangs to be included in the list of scheduled tribes. Chamling proposed that chettris, bahuns and newars be included in the list of OBCs so as to drawthe sympathy of the upper caste Nepalese and to weaken Bhandari's strong hold. The SSP demanded that the languages spoken by differentsegments of the Sikkimese people be given special concessions facilities for their development and that the Nepali language be developed so that it could be used at national level. The SDF too demanded the constitutional recognition for the bhutia, lepacha, the limbuilanguages. This apartChamlingthrew in the secular card,when he proposedto find a consensus candidate for the Sangha seat where 260 monks voted. On the eve of Pung Lhabsol, Chamling said, "Sanghaseat could be kept above the partypolitics" (Gangtok Times, August 1999). He followed this up with the withdrawal of the Rathang Chu Hydel project in deference to the religious sentiments of the Buddhists. Such steps were enough to draw the faith of the bhutialepchas towards Chamling. A look at the majorissues in the election manifestoes of the different political parties reveals that the same set of issues are churned out periodically, albeit in various permutations and combinations. Parties draw on the ethnic angle to win the attention of the voters. Issues like seat reservations, inclusion of certain excluded communities in the OBC list or in the list of tribals have been emphasised in all the manifestoes. All the parties were in favour of safeguarding existing rightsunderArticle 371 (F). They also mentioned issues directly related to the common people like health, education, ruraldevelopment, selfEconomic and Political Weekly

reliance in every field, eradication of corruption, creation of new employment avenues, special shops for the government employees, increase in the daily wages of the labourersandpromises to make Sikkim in ideal state.

SSP - End of Road?

The results of the sixth Sikkim assembly elections reveal that caste factors did not play a significant role favouring the opposition SSP. Only in constituencies like Central Pandam, Rhenok, Loosing Pancheykhani Pathing and RakdongTintek, where the upper caste Nepalese (the NBCs) is dominant, the SSP was able to maintain its stronghold. But in most of the other constituencies across the state, the Sikkim Democratic Front swept the polls. The SDF which had only 19 seats in the last election bagged 25 seats including the SDF-supported independent candidate of the Sangha seat. This result confirms that the SDF had furtherconsolidated its OBC and the tribal base which helped to an extent by the pro-poor, prorural and pro-tribal image of Chamling and his party. Bhandari was unable to maintain his hold'on the NBCs of the east district, where the SDF captured six seats, two more than 1994 election. Votes in these two constituencies exercised their choice that went beyond caste boundaries. The biggest victorywas atSDF's Soreong where R B Subba beat Nar Bahadur Bhandari. This was a serious flow for the SSP party and to Bhandari for Soreong was his home constituency. However, Bhandariwon from the Rhenock seat and secured his entry to the assembly. In contrast Chamling, the SDF supremo won with the highest margin. Winning with the supportof 72 per cent of the valid vote was definitely a massive success for the ruling party. The election results came as a great setback for the Congress too the third political force in Sikkim politics. None of its candidates figured in the list of elected candidates. The party lacked a firm stand on any issue. Also it failed to find the right candidates. Congress stalwarts like former chief minister, Sanchaman Limbu, the former power secretary L P Tewari could not resist the SDF wave at all. Electorates' apathy towards the Congerss(I) was clearly discernible in its performance at Rakdong-Tintek where its candidate secured less votes than even the

CPI(M) and the independent candidates. In Dzongu constituency, the Congress candidate got only 17 votes, a mere 0.36 per cent of the valid vote. The party had lost its support in the tribal base. Most of its candidates could not even save their security deposits. The election of Mingma Sherpa as the SSP candidate from Rakdong-Tintek with a comfortable margin indicates that the bhutia-lepcha voters of this constituency had very little role to play in their reserved constituencies. The fielding of sherpa candidate in the BL seat had led to statewide protests from the bhutia-lepcha people. This led to the formation of the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) to check the gradual erosion of cultural identity and political rights of the minority bhutia-lepcha community of Sikkim. The SIBLAC called a hungerstrike and poll boycott. However, it was not successful and did not influence the elections at all. Institutionslike the Organisation for Sikkimese Unity (OSU) had also protested on the above matter. But for the three reserved BL seats in north Sikkim, in the rest of the nine seats, the BL were in minority numerically and dependent on the voters of other communities. Another new organisation, the Sikkimese Nepali Apex Committee (SNAC), was formed during this election to safeguard the rights of Sikkimese Nepalese. The elections prompt the observation that the whole electorate, including the tribals and the non-backward classes has become polarised to some extent on the backward class issue. This polarisation reflected itself in the election results. However, the SDF party won as it could split the voters of the non-backwardclasses in a few constituencies of the west and east disticts on the one hand and also successfully consolidated its support amongst the OBC and the tribals of the state on

the other.133

References
Chakraborty, Jyotirmoy (1997): 'Election, Power and Politics in a multi-Ethnic Situation of Gujarat'in B B Goswami and JayantaSarkar, Ethnicity, Politics and Political Systems in TribalIndia,Anthropological Surveyof India, Calcutta. Ghosal, S (1997): 'Ethnicity,Politics andPolitical System in Sikkim' in Ethnicity Politics and Political Systems in Tribal India. Jena, B B and J K Baral (1989): Election Politics and Voting Behaviour in India: A Study of Orissa, Discovery Publishing House, Delhi.

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