June 2, 2024
Prem Singh Tamang, also known as P. S. Golay, is set to become the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the second time. His party, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), won 17 out of 32 Assembly seats in 2019 and is poised for another victory in 2024.
Prem Singh Tamang was born on February 10, 1968, in Soreng, West Sikkim. He started his career as a government employee before entering politics in the early 1990s.
Tamang founded the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) political party on February 4, 2013 after becoming a critic of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader Pawan Kumar Chamling.
Tamang has been active in Sikkim's political scene since the early 1990s. He joined the SDF in 1993 and won the 1994 Sikkim Assembly elections from the Chakung constituency, serving as Minister for Animal Husbandry, Ecclesiastical, and Industry Department until 1999.
In the 2019 Sikkim Assembly elections, SKM won 17 seats, ending Chamling's 25-year rule, with Tamang being sworn in as Chief Minister on May 27, 2019, at a ceremony in Paljor Stadium in Gangtok.
Tamang's career includes multiple terms as a member of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly. He was first elected in 1994 and again in 2019, demonstrating a sustained presence in state politics.
In 2017, Tamang was jailed for misappropriating Rs 9.5 lakh in government funds related to a cow distribution scheme that occurred between 1994 and 1999 when he was the Minister of Animal Husbandry. He was released from prison on August 10, 2018.