SDF to boycott assembly proceedings till Golay remains CM

Gangtok, June 3 (PTI): Former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling on Monday said his party, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), will boycott assembly proceedings till P S Golay, his newly-elected successor, remains in office.

He also said that the SDF is mulling challenging Golay’s appointment as chief minister, but stopped short of elaborating on it.

“Golay is ineligible to occupy any constitutional post after being disqualified from doing so,” Chamling told reporters in reference to his disqualification as an MLA, after he was convicted in a corruption case in 2016.

The SDF chief said that all decisions taken by the chief minister or his ministers will be deemed illegal, as his appointment itself was unconstitutional.

Earlier in the day, Chamling had led his party MLAs to boycott the inaugural sitting of the 10th Sikkim Legislative Assembly in protest against Golay holding the chief minister’s post.

Five-time chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling’s era ended in Sikkim after over 24 years in power, as the SDF lost the state elections to a resurgent Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM).

The SDF got 15 seats in the hill state, while the SKM bagged 17 seats in the 32-member assembly.