New Delhi: Polling for the Poklong-Kamrang assembly constituency byelection began at 7 am on Monday, October 21, putting Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang’s political career once more to the test.By 9 am, according to news reports from the state, 13% of the electorate had cast their ballots.Both Tamang, known popularly as ‘Golay’, and his opponent, Moses Rai, were spotted voting early in the day.Golay is a five-time MLA from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) before he resigned from the party to start the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). He had not contested the assembly elections this April as that would mean falling foul of Section 8 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 — he had served a one-year jail term in a corruption case. The Act, however, did not keep the state governor from swearing in Golay as the chief minister after he was elected leader of the SKM legislative party – thus triggering a series of petitions at the Supreme Court against the move. The petitioners sought clarity on the matter, particularly in the light of the apex court’s order in 2001 in a similar case related to former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. On September 29, the Election Commission of India (ECI), responding to a plea made by Golay in July seeking exemption from Section 8 of the Act under its discretionary powers so that he could contest the polls within the stipulated six-months period to retain his chair, took a decision in his favour.Also read: EC’s Decision to Allow Sikkim CM to Contest By-Polls Will Help the BJP. Here’s How.Significantly, the ECI decision came just two-days after Golay’s party entered into a pre-poll alliance with BJP. The conditions of the tie-up were that SKM would contest from one seat in the October 21 bypoll, leaving the other two seats – Gangtok and Martam-Rumtek – for the BJP. Mr. Prem Singh Tamang, the Chief Minister of Sikkim met PM @narendramodi. pic.twitter.com/LXhdP6AYz1— PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 11, 2019In the recent assembly polls, SDF supremo Pawan Chamling had defeated the SKM candidate at Poklong-Kamrang by a margin of over 40%. The bypoll was necessitated as Chamling then decided to forgo it for another constituency from which he had won, Namchi. Soon after Golay filed his nomination papers, sources in the SDF brass had told The Wire that it “is not an easy seat even for Golay, the reason why BJP must have left it for him.” They claimed, “Unless the BJP helps him out by rigging some EVMs, and so on, we still have a fighting chance.” The seat has been going to the SDF since 1994.However, with the campaigns heating up in the last few days, there were media reports of violence including an attempt (allegedly by SDF members) to physically attack Chamling and other SDF members during their visit to the constituency on October 10. On October 17, senior SDF leader and party spokesperson P.D. Rai submitted a written complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, in New Delhi, “seeking urgent action to bring under control the widespread electoral violence and attempts to suppress voting taking place.” Shri Ram Madhavji ( @rammadhavbjp ) was warmly received by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim, Shri Prem Singh Tamang (Golay),Cabinet Ministers & senior officials of the government as he reaches Manan Bhawan to address the Orientation Campaign being organised by the State Govt. pic.twitter.com/rhLJXJMncz— Rohit Kumar (@iamrohit2104) September 17, 2019Rai’s letter said, “It has further been widely reported in the media that several sharp weapons have been found by the police in various vehicles in Poklong-Kamrang constituency. Hence there is an apprehension of further violence in Poklong-Kamrang.” Stating that it has video evidence of the chief minister Golay “inciting violence against the leaders of SDF”, the letter said that SDF candidate (Moses) was therefore not able to campaign freely in the constituency.Later, in a press statement, Rai called for deferring the bypolls in the assembly constituency.In response, the ECI appointed Vivek Dube as the special observer to the constituency. Dubey, an IPS officer of the 1981 batch, was also deputed as a special observer to West Bengal in the April-May general elections. Also read: How the Modi Govt’s Betrayal of a Key Vajpayee-Era Reform Helps Sikkim’s New CMIn the two other assembly seats of the state going for bypolls on Monday – Gangtok and Martam-Rumtek – BJP’s Yong Tsering Lepcha and Sonam Tsering Venchugpa are facing Rinzing Ongmu and Nuk Tsering Bhutia from the SDF respectively. BJP – even though it had registered a below-2% vote share in the last polls – has an advantage in these two seats, having entered into a pre-poll alliance with SKM, which has been campaigning fervently for it. While the Gangtok seat had gone to SKM in the last polls, the Rumtek seat was won by SDF. Some moments shared with Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji, Shri @RajnathSingh ji and other leaders of the #NDA at New Delhi today. pic.twitter.com/sqPQKKWnBE— Pawan Chamling (@pawanchamling5) May 21, 2019After the April assembly polls, while SKM formed a government by winning 17 of the 30 seats that went into polls, SDF sat on the opposition benches with 13. However, in August, BJP, which had failed to open its account in the assembly polls, managed to absorb 10 SDF MLAs into its fold, to become the main opposition.SKM is the newest ally of the BJP in the northeast. Though in the run-up to the assembly elections SKM had announced a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, it had eventually backed out keeping in mind the massive local opposition to the Narendra Modi government’s decision to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in parliament.SDF, an active ally member of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), had also turned down the BJP’s offer for a pre-poll alliance then. However, it is not clear yet whether it continues to be a part of NEDA after the recent strain on its equation with BJP. It is also not clear whether SKM is only an ally of the BJP at the state level or has formally joined NEDA.