Two senior leaders of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, along with a host of supporters, joined the Sikkim Democratic Front at an SDF event in Jorethang in south Sikkim on Friday, giving a boost to the main Opposition party ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

Shiva Kumar Sharma, an ideologue of the SKM who had helmed the preparation of the party’s vision document, was welcomed to the SDF by its president and former chief minister Pawan Chamling. M.N. Dahal, a former SKM spokesman, expressed his desire to join the SDF in a letter to Chamling.

Both Sharma and Dahal said they were joining the SDF to accomplish the vision and mission of the party and its president.

“I want to unconditionally serve Sikkim and the Sikkimese people by participating in this important journey started by you,” said Dahal in an obvious reference to the SDF’s ongoing “Save Sikkim” campaign.

While welcoming the duo and scores of others from south and west Sikkim to the SDF, Chamling said all those who had lost their ways were also welcome to join the party.

“We will not differentiate against anyone. We will all work together,” he said, adding that his party believed in collective leadership.

Sikkim has been witnessing a churning with less than a year and a half to go for the elections as parties and politicians jostle for suitable roles in electoral politics.

“This is nothing new and happens every time before elections. This only indicates that Sikkim already is in election mode,” said an observer.

In recent weeks, apart from an increase in the instances of party hopping, primarily by the members of the SKM and the SDF, new political equations are also evolving with two fringe parties, the Bhaichung Bhutia-headed Hamro Sikkim Party and Sikkim Republican Party of K. B. Rai, coming together on a single platform and former SDF leader Ganesh Rai on the verge of launching his own party.