Prem Singh Tamang

Prem Singh Tamang (2019)

Prem Singh Tamang (born February 5, 1968 in Chakhung, then Kingdom of Sikkim, now India), also known under the name Prem Singh Golay or PS Golay , is a politician from the Indian state of Sikkim . He has been Chief Minister of Sikkim since May 27, 2019 .

biography

Origin, education and initial political career

Prem Singh Tamang was born the son of Dhan Maya Tamang and Kalu Singh Tamang in a small village in western Sikkim, near the border with Nepal . At the time of his birth, Sikkim was still a kingdom, but under an Indian protectorate (the final annexation to India took place in 1975). Tamang received basic education at Soreng Government School and then attended Darjeeling College at the University of North Bengal , where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1988 . From 1990 to 1993 he worked as a teacher, but then turned to politics and joined the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) founded by Pawan Chamling in 1993 . The SDF won the Sikkim Parliament election in 1994, and Tamang was elected to the Sikkim Parliament as a member of the 7-Chakung constituency. He also won this constituency in the two following elections to the parliament of Sikkim in 1999 and 2004. In the newly formed government under Chamling as Chief Minister, he became a minister responsible for livestock farming on the one hand and religious affairs on the other. He was also Minister in the following two Chamling governments (1999 to 2004 for livestock, religious affairs and industry, 2004 to 2009 for construction and housing).

Party dissident and founding of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha

In the election to the parliament of Sikkim in 2009 Tamang was successful as a candidate of the SDF the constituency 28 Upper Burtuk . The SDF won all 32 seats in Sikkim's parliament in this election. After the election, he was no longer offered a ministerial position, but only to head a department for trade and industry, which he ultimately refused. In the following years he increasingly developed into a party dissident and critic of the SDF government.

On December 21, 2009, a gathering of government officials was held in the Rolu field in West Sikkim. The event later became known as the Rolu Picnic . Here Tamang gave a speech in which he openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the government under Chief Minister Chamling. This event marked an open break with the SDF party leadership. Nevertheless, he initially remained a party member and also retained his mandate. The followers of Tamang founded a new party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM, 'Sikkim Revolutionary Front') on February 4, 2013 . Bharati Sharma became the first party leader. PS Tamang joined the new party on October 6, 2013 and soon after became party president.

In the election to the parliament of Sikkim on April 12, 2014, the SKM achieved a respectable success and won 10 of the 32 constituency mandates in Sikkim. The SDF maintained its majority and remained a ruling party. Tamang himself ran in two constituencies ( 28-Upper Burtuk and 13-Namthang-Rateypani ) and won the mandate in the former.

Prosecution and detention

In the legislative period that followed, it became apparent that the new party was not yet internally stable. In 2015 and 2016, a total of seven of the ten SKM MPs defected to the ruling party SDF.

During this time, Tamang was also caught in a corruption scandal that occurred during his time as minister from 1994 to 1999. The former Chief Minister of Sikkim, Nar Bahadur Bhandari , had initiated the proceedings. It was about financial irregularities worth about ₹ 9.5 lakh . After Tamang was convicted by a court in Sikkim for misappropriating state funds during his tenure as minister, he had to give up his mandate in the legislative assembly of Sikkim on January 13, 2017. The verdict was upheld by Sikkim's Supreme Court, the Sikkim High Court , and Tamang subsequently served a one-year prison sentence. He was released from custody on August 10, 2018.

Developments since 2018

The conviction and imprisonment did not damage Tamang's political influence in the long term; on the contrary, it earned him additional sympathy as allegedly persecuted by the authorities. He regained his following and the SKM won 17 of the 32 constituencies in the parliamentary election in Sikkim on April 11, 2019, and thus a narrow majority in parliament. On May 27, 2019, Tamang was appointed Chief Minister by the Governor of Sikkim.

It was unclear at the time of his appointment whether Tamang would be able to remain in his office as Chief Minister for any length of time. According to Indian electoral laws, a chief minister who is not a member of the legislative assembly of his state or union territory must be elected to the relevant parliament in a by-election within 6 months of his appointment in order to remain in office. On the other hand, a person who has served a prison sentence cannot run for political office for six years after the date of release. Tamang did not run in the 2019 election himself - according to his party, he did not do so in order to concentrate on the SKM's election campaign. Political commentators speculated that in the event of a forced resignation, Tamang might want to install his son Aditya Tamang, who was elected as a SKM member of the Sikkim parliament, as his deputy or successor in the office of chief minister. Tamang filed a petition with the Indian Election Commission on July 6, 2019 to shorten the duration of his disqualification in order to allow him to remain in the office of Chief Minister. On September 29, 2019, the electoral commission passed its verdict in favor of Tamang (citing previous precedents, among other things) and shortened its electoral ban from six years to one year. This enabled Tamang to participate in the by-elections scheduled for October 21, 2019 in three constituencies as a prerequisite for remaining in the office of Chief Minister. In the by-election, Tamang won the constituency Poklok Kamrang with a large majority.

After his inauguration as Chief Minister, Tamang announced that he would entrust the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian federal police authority, with the investigation of corruption cases from the past 25 years of the SDF government.

Private

Tamang's mother tongue is Nepalese . Prem Singh Tamang was married three times (with Sarda Tamang, Bhakta Kumari Pradhan and Krishna Kumari Rai) and has three children from the three marriages.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on June 11, 2019 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence). 
2. ↑ Yougan Tamang: Some Interesting facts of SKM Chief PS Golay. The Sikkim Chronicle, December 29, 2018, accessed June 11, 2019 . 
3. ^ Renegade SDF MLA launches new political party. The Assam Tribune, February 5, 2013, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
4. ^ Golay to take charge as SKM president. The Statesman, December 22, 2013, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
5. ^ Who is PS Golay, the new chief minister of Sikkim. The Hindu, May 27, 2019, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Probir Pramanik: The Pawan Chamling Backlash! Prem Singh Tamang Faces Legal Questions Over Elevation As Sikkim CM. outlookindia.com, June 12, 2019, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
7. ^ From jail to the hot seat of power - a long journey for Golay. Northeast Now, May 28, 2019, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Prem Singh Tamang, aka PS Golay, sworn in as Sikkim CM: SKM chief was convicted of corruption under Chamling gov. firstpost.com, May 27, 2019, accessed June 15, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Goley übernimmt charge as CM of Sikkim. In: uniindia.com. United News of India, May 27, 2019, accessed June 11, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Commission's Order dated September 29, 2019 regarding application of Shri Prem Singh Tamang under Section 11 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Indian Electoral Commission, September 29, 2019, accessed on September 29, 2019 . 
11. ↑ Arvind Gunasekar: Sikkim Chief Minister's Poll Disqualification Period Reduced To A Year. September 29, 2019, accessed on September 29, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Press Release. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Baluwakhani, Gangtok – Sikkim, September 21, 2019, accessed on September 29, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Sikkim assembly byelections: CM Prem Singh Tamang wins from Poklok Kamrang seat, BJP bags Martam Rumtek. The Times of India, October 24, 2019, accessed October 24, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Sikkim government to clear decks for CBI to probe corruption cases. The Hindu, June 7, 2019, accessed June 11, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Affidavit to be furnished by candidate along with nomination paper. (pdf) Retrieved June 11, 2019 (English).