Himalayan Times (1953)

April 5, 1953

Three

ihintnlnuau (Times

SIIUpM GOES 1© FOILS

[From Our Special Representative) ' «

Gangtok, March 30 ?

Perched on elevation
ranging between 1500' and
15000' the thinly popula-
lated Indian protectorate
Himalayan State of Sikkim
went to polls today for
tiie first time in its history
to form a seventeen mem-
ber legi3lative*councii with
a view to introduce res-
ponsible government in
Sikkim which at present
is being ruled by Maha-
raja Sir Tashi Namgyal
with India Government’s
nominee Dewan Bahadur
J. S. LaU at the head of
the State Administration.

Covering an area of
2S1S square miles and yiel-
ding an annual revenue of
Ks.l2,u0,000/*. Sikkim has
h .mixed population of
l 35,000. Its relation with
India being governed by
Indo-Sikkitn treaty of De-
cember 1950.

The State Council will
be composed of a President,
who shall be nominated
by the Maharaja, twelve
elected members and five
members nominated by the
Maharaja in his discretion,

Great enthusiasm pre-
vailed among the simple
hill folk as polling
began today in 18 polling
centres of Gangtok consti-
tuency spread over scores

of miles between Mangan
in north Sikkim and Ling-
tarn in eastern Sikkim.
The total number of Lep-
cha-Bhutia voters in Gang-
tok Constituency alone is
4(>74. Six Lepeha-Bhutia
candidates four of Sikkim
National Party and- two
of Sikkim State ('ohgress
are contesting of which
four will bo elected who
will .be the candidates in
final joint election start-
ing bn May 1, next.

\ Basically sohar indi
dividuals the Sikkim Lep-
cha Bhutias were found
making responsible deci
sions in casting their votes.
Voting was slow but vo
ters were dtd°rm<ned and
a't the end of polls at 5
p.m. no incident was re-
ported from any of the
eighteen centres From re-
ports available it sterns
that ab mt seventy per
cent votes were cast.

Hate of summoning
•he “State Council will be
announced after results of
final elections are known.

Asked by our repre-
sentative if the 'State
Council will have sufficient
influence in moulding Sik-
kim into democratic shape
Dewan Bahadur J. S. Lai
wa9 emphatically affirma*

--—--r-

T. B. SANATORIUM AT
KALIMPONG

Kalimpong, April 1
In a public meeting
held here today under the
, auspices of the Kalimpong
.Sub Divisional Congress a
resolution was passed
strongly protesting against
the proposed establishment,
of a T B Sanatorium tft
Dalapchand seven miles
from Kalimpong.

A similar move against
establishment of a sanato-
rium here was'aiso takenin
1937 when strong protests
from the then leading
people of Ivalimpong were
sent to authorities concer-
ned

FAREWELL MEEtlNG

Darjeeling, April 1
A farewell meeting
was organised by the staff
& students of the Darjee-
ling Government College,
on Saturday the 28th
March, 1953 in honour of
Dr. S K. Majumdar ou
his transfer to the David
Hare framing College, Cal
cutta, as Principal.

tive in reply and said
“Mvny of the transferred
subjects such as education,
pub'ic health, forest etc.
are of profound importance
from point of view of devel-
opment of the State and
I am confident that the
would be councillors will
ploy an important role in
bringing aboutanall round
prosperity in Sikkim.”