Over 79 percent votes cast in Sikkim bypoll

Amid great enthusiasm, over 79 percent of the electorate Saturday cast their votes for the Rangang-Yangang assembly constituency bypoll in Sikkim.

There were lengthy queues in front of the 14 polling stations, as men and women in colourful clothes stood patiently to exercise their democratic right.

Election officials said 89.6 percent of the 11,700 electors had cast their votes when polling came to an end at 5 p.m.

"Polling passed off absolutely peacefully. There were no untoward incidents," an official in the state chief electoral officer's department told IANS.

The bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Pawan Chamling resigned from the seat and retained Namchi-Singhithang after the April assembly polls.

While the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) contestant is 32-year-old Kumari Manger, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated 26-year-old Bikash Basnet.

Basnet had contested in the April polls on a Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) ticket but lost by over 3,000 votes.

The SKM is not in the fray this time, and is lending support to the BJP.

Bishnu Prasad Adhikari of the Congress and Rup Narayan Chamling, Chief Minister Chamling's brother and an independent candidate, also contested.