Gangtok: The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) led by Pawan Kumar Chamling today (May 13, 2004) returned to power in the Himalayan State for a third time in a row winning all seats but one in a 32-member Assembly.

The lone constituency it lost was the Sangha seat, which went to Tshering Lama of the Congress which came second in all other seats.

The SDF also won the lone Lok Sabha seat of the State where both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were held simultaneously. SDF's Nakul Das Rai defeated Biraj Adhikari of Congress with a margin of 1,25,188 votes to go to Parliament.

Elections 2004-Where is India heading...
Political Parties in India

Former Chief Minister and Congress heavyweight Nar Bahadur Bhandari, seeking his seventh entry into the Assembly, lost from both the Central Pendam and Gangtok seats from where he contested.

In Central Pendam, Bhandari lost to Somnath Poudyal who scripted an upset win defeating the Congress heavyweight by a margin of 3455 votes. From Gangtok, N K Pradhan of the SDF beat him by 3143 votes.

After the landslide victory, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, who won uncontested from Damthing constituency, said that it testified that the party was leading the State in the right direction for the last decade.

Declaring that the people's mandate was the victory of the vision and ideology of the SDF, Chamling said, ''Now that we are voted back to power, our responsibilities increased. We will make Sikkim a model State now.'' The result showed that the people of Sikkim rejected the "casteist and opportunistic forces", he said.