The election for the sole Rajya Sabha seat from Sikkim will be held on January 19. The Sikkim Legislative Assembly secretariat issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday.
The election, sources said, will be conducted as the seat will fall vacant next month. The tenure of Hishey Lachungpa, the sitting Rajya Sabha member of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), will end on February 23 this year.
He was elected in 2018 when the SDF, the party headed by former chief minister Pawan Chamling, was in power in Sikkim. In 2019, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, led by P.S. Tamang, the present chief minister, came to power in the state.
Lalit Kumar Gurung, the returning officer, said in the notification that nomination papers could be submitted till January 9 and candidates could withdraw from the fray till January 12.
“If the election is to be held, it will be conducted on January 19 at the conference room of the Assembly secretariat from 9am to 4pm. The process has to be completed by January 23,” said a source.
