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Bhutia-Lepchas call for boycott of polls

Tribal organisations of the indigenous Bhutia-Lepcha communities in Sikkim have decided to boycott the October 3 elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat and the 32-member assembly in protest against the ''conversion'' of reserved Bhutia-Lepcha (BL)seats in the assembly to ''tribal'' seats.

The organisations, under the banner of Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee, at an emergency meeting unanimously resolved to send a petition to the President through the Sikkim governor Chaudhury Randhir Singh for restoration of rights and interests of the people of the Bhutia-Lepcha origin as guaranteed by Article 371(f). The SIBLAC has appealed to all Bhutia-Lepcha candidates for the state's 12 reserved seats to withdraw their nominations in support of their demand.

The SIBLAC, in a memorandum submitted to the governor on September 14, had drawn his attention to the danger of obliteration faced by the Bhutia-Lepchas in the political situation that has emerged after signing of the May 8 1973 tripartite agreement among the erstwhile ruler of Sikkim -- Chogyal Palden Thodup Namgyal, the Government of India and the then political parties in Sikkim prior to the Himalayan kingdom's merger to the Indian union in 1975.

UNI

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