Political parties in Sikkim participate whole-heartedly in the assembly and the parliamentary elections of the state. There are both national level and state level
political parties in Sikkim, although current position of the state shows a clear preference for the regional parties over the national level parties.
National Political Parties in the State
In the early days of the democracy in the state of Sikkim, the national level political parties started to make their presence felt more strongly in this picturesque Himalayan state. The Indian National Congress had the greatest influence of all other national political parties at Sikkim in that time, as it is now. The other national level political parties did not share the wide popularity that INC enjoyed. However, many of them have become proactive to increase their influence in this region.
State and Regional Political Parties of Sikkim
The state level political parties of Sikkim enjoy great popularity in the state. In fact, Sikkim is one of those few states where the state political parties enjoy popularity and power that is much higher than the high profile national political parties. There are many state and regional political parties in Sikkim. The history of the Sikkim political parties features a number of switches of loyalties, cessations and merges. Not all of them managed to have equal significance in the state's political scenario. However, Sikkim Democratic Party (SDF) enjoys great popularity in the state and continues to be the ruling party of the state for the last two assembly elections.
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