Gangtok: Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling made good on his promise to reserve seats for the tribal Bhutia and Lepcha communities in the rural bodies when his government tabled the Sikkim Panchayat (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in the Assembly on Friday, hoping that it would pay dividends in the Assembly elections next year.

Minister for rural management and development department S. B. Subedi said the Bill seeks to reserve at least 20 per cent seats for the two communities in both the gram panchayat and zilla panchayat in keeping with the principle of proportionate reservation provided in the state Assembly.

With the ruling Sikkim Democratic Party (SDF) enjoying a brute majority in the 32-member House, the Bill is expected sail through rather easily when it is taken up for discussion and approval on Saturday.

The chief minister during the course of his over two months-old stop-start mass contact programme had promised to bring in legislation to secure seats for the two tribal communities in the rural bodies. Opposition parties had accused the chief minister of trying to appease the Bhutias and Lepchas with an eye on the elections, particularly because he fears a backlash from the other two tribal communities, Limbu and Tamang, for his alleged failure to reserve seats for them in the state Assembly.

Limbus and Tamangs were granted Scheduled Tribe status in 2003, but their demand for reservation of seats in the Assembly is yet to be met. The position of the state government on this and the demand for granting of tribal status to other left out Nepali communities is that they are in the domain of the Central government. Both these issues are expected to have a massive bearing in the elections.

In what can inferred as a move to appease the powerful Limbu-Tamang lobby, the chief minister, who is also in-charge of land revenue and disaster management department, tabled another Bill in the Assembly prohibiting the sale of land belonging to the Limbu and Tamang communities to persons belonging to any other communities. The Bhutias and Lepchas, too, enjoy such a protection under revenue order No. 1, which is a pre-merger Sikkim law, but protected by Article 371f of the Indian Constitution, which accords special status to the Himalayan state which merged with India in 1975.

The Sikkim Regulation of Transfer of Land (Amendment) Bill also seeks to protect the land holdings of other communities like the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. The government also tabled six other Bills, including the Sikkim Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Members of Legislative Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Bill, 2018, which seeks to increase the pays and perks of the elected representatives.

An analyst said the Panchayat and Land Bills are aimed at consolidating the votes of the four communities.

"The chief minister's mass contact programme is nothing but plain electioneering. During the course of his extended tour covering almost all the 32 Assembly constituencies, Chamling has made a whole lot of promises. He has already acted on some of them, including today's two Bills, which are meant to woo the four tribal communities," said the analyst.