Pawan Kumar Chamling

The Hon'ble Pawan Kumar Chamling पवन कुमार चाम्लिङ
5th Chief Minister of Sikkim
Incumbent
Assumed office December 12, 1994
Preceded by	Sanchaman Limboo
Personal details
Born	(1950-09-22) September 22, 1950 Yangang, Sikkim
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Sikkim Democratic Front
Spouse(s)	Dhan Maya Chamling Tika Maya Chamling
Children	4 Sons 4 Daughters Bijoy,Bishal,Bikash and Bibek Chamling(sons) Sushila,Shiela,Sunita and Komal Chamling(daughters)
Profession	Farmer, Contractor
Religion	Hinduism
Website	pawan-chamling.org

Pawan Kumar Chamling (born 22 September 1950) is the fifth and incumbent chief minister of the Indian state of Sikkim.^[1][2] Chamling is the founder president of the Sikkim Democratic Front, which has governed the state for five successive terms since 1994. He is also the longest standing Chief Ministers of India which has won the legislative assembly elections for 5 terms in a row and will be completing 25 years of governance by the next legislative elections, (2019) creating a political history in India.

Personal life

Chamling was born in Yangang, South Sikkim to Ashbahadur Chamling and Asharani Chamling. Chamling is also a Nepali language writer and recipient of the Bhanu Puraskar (2010) awarded by Sikkim Sahitya Parishad. He writes under the pen name Pawan Chamling Kiran. Mr. Chamling has 8 children, 4 sons and 4 daughters. His son Bikash Chamling is very popular and active social worker in the state. He organises many social and other activities in the capital Gangtok. Sikkim winter carnival is one of his works which attracts thousands of tourists from India and other countries as well.

Political career

Chamling was elected as the president of Yangang Gram Panchayat in 1982. In 1985, he was elected to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the first time. After being elected for the second time from Damthang constituency, he became the Minister for Industries, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992 in the Nar Bahadur Bhandari cabinet. After a series of major political upheavals in Sikkim, Chamling formed the Sikkim Democratic Front on 4 March 1993.

Chamling is the only chief minister of India who has governed a state five terms in a row, with his party Sikkim Democratic Front winning the 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 Sikkim legislative assembly elections. His party first came to power in Sikkim after winning the 1994 assembly elections. His popularity kept soaring in Sikkim due to his developmental work and for maintaining peace. In 2009, his party SDF won all 32 assembly seats in Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

Following win in 2014 assembly election, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the fifth consecutive time on May 21, 2014 by Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil, the Governor of Sikkim. He became the chief minister fifth time, a record previously hold by Jyoti Basu who ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.^[3] His party SDF won 22 out of 32 assembly seats in the 2014 legislative assembly election. After 18 months of 2014 elections i.e. on November 30, 2015, 7 out of 10 opposition MLAs joined the SDF party under the leadership of Pawan Chamling. Now the ruling front has 28 out of 32 assembly seats in the state. 28 SDF MLAs 3 SKM MLAs 1 Independent MLA

On 18 January 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a two-day visit to the state to declare Sikkim as the first and the only Organic State in the country.

References

External links

• Pawan Kumar Chamling on Facebook
• Website of Sikkim Democratic Front
• Chief Minister's website
• Pawan Chamling's Speech
• Pawan Chamling in the program Satyameva Jayate on making Sikkim an Organic State