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Pawan Kumar Chamling (born 22 September 1949) is an Indian politician and the former Chief Minister of Sikkim.[1][2] Chamling is the Founding President of the Sikkim Democratic Front,[3] which governed the state for five successive terms since 1994.[4]

Pawan Kumar Chamling
Chamling in June 2016
5th Chief Minister of Sikkim
In office 12 December 1994 – 26 May 2019
Governor	Ganga Prasad
Preceded by	Sanchaman Limboo
Succeeded by	Prem Singh Tamang
Leader of the Opposition, Sikkim
In office 3 June 2019 – 13 August 2019
Chief Minister	Prem Singh Tamang
Preceded by	Prem Singh Tamang
Constituency	Namchi-Singhithang
Member of Vidhan Sabha, Sikkim
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 June 2019
Chief Minister	Prem Singh Tamang
Preceded by	Himself
Constituency	Namchi-Singhithang
In office 8 March 1985 – 11 December 1994
Chief Minister	Nar Bahadur Bhandari, Sanchaman Limboo
Preceded by	Pradeep Yanzone
Succeeded by	Himself
Constituency	Damthang
Personal details
Born	(1949-09-22) 22 September 1949 (age 73) Yangang, Kingdom of Sikkim (present-day Sikkim, India)
Political party	Sikkim Democratic Front
Spouse(s)	Dhan Maya Chamling Tika Maya Chamling
Children	8
Profession	Writer politician
Website	www.pawanchamling.com

Chamling's 24.4 year stint (December 1994 to May 2019) is the longest ever by a chief minister of any Indian state, surpassing Jyoti Basu's 23 years in West Bengal.[5] Prior to establishing the Sikkim Democratic Front, Chamling served as Minister for Industries, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992 in Nar Bahadur Bhandari's cabinet.

Personal life

Chamling was born in Yangang, South Sikkim to Nepali parents Ash Bahadur Chamling and Asha Rani Chamling. Chamling is also a prolific Nepali language writer, and recipient of the Bhanu Puraskar (2010) awarded by Sikkim Sahitya Parishad. He writes under the pen name Pawan Chamling. Mr. Chamling has two wives an 8 children (4 sons and 4 daughters).[6][7][8]

Political career

Chamling was elected as the president of Yangang Gram Panchayat in 1982. In 1985, he was elected to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the first time. After being elected for the second time from Damthang, he became the Minister for Industries, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992 in the Nar Bahadur Bhandari cabinet. After a series of major political upheavals in Sikkim, Chamling formed the Sikkim Democratic Front on 4 March 1993.

Chamling is the second chief minister in India after Jyoti Basu, of West Bengal to govern a state five terms in a row, with his party Sikkim Democratic Front winning the 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 Sikkim Legislative Assembly elections. His party first came to power in Sikkim after winning the 1994 Sikkim assembly elections. His popularity kept soaring in Sikkim due to his developmental work and for maintaining peace.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, his party Sikkim Democratic Front won all 32 assembly seats in Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

In 2012, he faced allegations of corruption and Bhandari, his predecessor as CM, predicted that Chamling would go to jail if he lost his power. [7] And his former comrade Tamang (Golay) developed differences with him and floated his own party. These developments created political challenge for him, but he managed to win the assembly elections of 2014, albeit with a much reduced majority.

Following win in 2014 assembly election, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the fifth consecutive time on 21 May 2014 by Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil, the Governor of Sikkim. He became the chief minister for a fifth time, a record previously held by Jyoti Basu who ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.[9][6]

His party SDF won 22 out of 32 assembly seats in the 2014 legislative assembly election. 18 months after the 2014 elections, on 30 November 2015, 7 out of 10 opposition MLAs joined the SDF party under the leadership of Pawan Chamling. The ruling front had 29 out of 32 assembly seats in the state.[10]

On 18 January 2016 Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made a two-day visit to the state to declare Sikkim as the first and the only "organic state" in the country, as it has fully implemented organic farming statewide.[11]

Chamling resigned as CM after 2019 Sikkim Legislative Assembly election as former member Prem Singh Tamang's Sikkim Krantikari Morcha party formed the government by winning 17 seats out of 32. SDF party won the remaining 15 seats. But in August 2019, 10 MLAs quit his party to join Bharatiya Janata Party and in the same month two other legislators joined Sikkim Krantikari Morcha. Thus making Chamling only MLA of from the party.[12][13][14]

Electoral records

Sikkim Legislative Assembly election

Year	Constituency	Political Party	Result	Position	Votes	% Votes	% Margin	Deposit	Source
1985	Damthang	SSs	Won	1st/8	2,281	73.79	+57.00	refunded	[15]
1989	Damthang	SSP	Won	1st/2	4,227	94.27	+88.54	refunded	[16]
1994	Damthang	SDF	Won	1st/4	3,904	70.27	+43.93	refunded	[17]
1999	Damthang	SDF	Won	1st/3	4,952	72.26	+45.03	refunded	[18]
2004	Damthang	SDF	Won	1st/1	-	-	uncontested	-	[19]
2009	Poklok-Kamrang	SDF	Won	1st/6	7,379	80.68	+65.12	refunded	[20]
	Namchi-Singhithang	SDF	Won	1st/6	5,653	80.97	+66.51	refunded	[20]
2014	Namchi-Singhithang	SDF	Won	1st/3	4,774	55.08	+12.67	refunded	[21]
	Rangang-Yangang	SDF	Won	1st/3	6,343	63.84	+32.23	refunded	[21]
2019	Poklok-Kamrang	SDF	Won	1st/5	7,731	59.09	+22.16	refunded	[22]
	Namchi-Singhithang	SDF	Won	1st/5	5,054	50.31	+3.75	refunded	[23]

See also

• List of longest-serving Indian chief ministers
• List of chief ministers of Sikkim

References

External links

• Media related to Pawan Kumar Chamling at Wikimedia Commons
• Pawan Chamling on Twitter

Political offices
Preceded by Sanchaman Limboo	Chief Minister of Sikkim 12 December 1994 – 27 May 2019	Succeeded by Prem Singh Tamang

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