Sikkim nuns on voters’ list

Sikkim nuns on voters’ list
 

A Buddhist nun in Gangtok on Tuesday. Picture by Prabin Khaling

Gangtok, April 28: For the first time, Buddhist nuns in Sikkim will vote in the Assembly election on Thursday.

The Sikkim Assembly is the only one in India to have one of its 32 seats reserved for the Buddhist clergy (Sangha). Monks and nuns registered in any of the 56 recognised monasteries of the 104 in the state are eligible to vote or contest the election.

This time, the Congress has fielded outgoing MLA Acharya Tshering Lama of East district’s Sumik Gumpha. The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF)’s Phitook Teshring Lama of Namchi and the BJP’s Samdrup Dorjee Bhutia of Barmoik are also in the fray. The Sangha seat has 3,047 voters including 27 nuns. In 2004, Acharya had won by 750 votes.

On Thursday, Sikkim goes to simultaneous polls for the lone Lok Sabha seat as well.

“This is the first time that we will exercise our franchise to select a monk who will represent us in the Assembly,” said Passang Dorjee Bhutia (27), a nun of Lhuntse Gumpha at Geyzing in West district. “Over the years, we have witnessed the polls with the lamas contesting as candidates of different political parties. This year, the elections hold more attraction for us as we, too, will participate in the process and cast our ballots.”

The list of 27 nuns includes Sonam Rinzing Bhutia (21) from the same monastery and Gozing Lama from the Aden Wolung Gumpha, also in Geyzing. “We are eagerly waiting to cast votes as there is a difference between watching the electoral process and participating in it,” Gozing said. “The contest over the Sangha seat is no less interesting as we see monks, both juniors and seniors, discussing the poll prospects and listening to the candidates canvassing,” the 31-year-old nun added.

According to the nun, the candidates for the Sangha seat have to campaign in the same manner like their counterparts in other constituencies. “Although it is an Assembly segment, the contestants have to seek votes throughout the state as the voters (Buddhist clergy) are not confined to a particular geographical location like in the other 31 seats,” she said.

The process of electing a Sangha candidate is interesting. “Unlike general voters who will cast their ballots in favour of a candidate of a particular constituency, voters of the Sangha seat, irrespective of the constituency they live in, will elect a representative through a separate electronic voting machine (EVM),” election office sources said.

According to the sources, three EVMs will be kept in every booth of the state. One is for the lone parliamentary constituency, the second is for the 31 Assembly segments and the third for the Sangha seat.

The Acharya, the sole Opposition member in the outgoing House, has come out with a number of issues to woo the voters. Once elected, he would take up the cause of separate representation for the clergy in Parliament and panchayats.

“We feel seats should be reserved for the monks in the two tiers of legislature, just like the Assembly. We also demand separate planning and budget allocation for the monks,” he said.

SDF president and chief minister Pawan Chamling is, however, confident that his party will win the Sangha seat. “We are sure to bag all the 32 seats, including the Sangha, this time. Our government had taken some unparalleled steps for development of projects meant for women and youth,” Chamling said.