Quota denial finger at Chamling party

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, 10 Mar 2019, Gangtok: The Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (Siblac) on Saturday accused the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) and Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling of being responsible for the denial of reservation of seats in the state Assembly to the Limbu and Tamang communities, who were granted Scheduled Tribe status in 2003.

Addressing a press conference here, Siblac president Tseten Tashi Bhutia said Chamling and his party have time and again been falsely accusing his organisation of being responsible for the denial of seats to the two communities when in fact it is his government which had pleaded before the Delimitation Commission way back 2006 to keep the quota issue pending.

"The chief secretary of the Sikkim government on March 9, 2006 had written to the Delimitation Commission requesting it to keep the matter pending since the state government had taken up the proposal for increasing the number of Assembly seats from 32 to 40," he alleged.

Bhutia cited a number of other instances when the state government, instead of expediting the process of providing Assembly quota to the Limbus and Tamangs, allegedly stalled the move by either prevaricating or, as in one instance, by agreeing to the decision of the central government to impose a freeze on undertaking delimitation exercise throughout the country till 2026.

Even after 16 years of being granted the tribal status, the Limbus and Tamangs are yet to be granted reservation of seats in the Assembly.

K. T. Gyaltsen, the SDF spokesman, however, iterated his party's position that organisations like Siblac were responsible for the delay in providing seats to the Limbus and Tamangs.