The Sikkim Democratic Front ended a decade of one-party rule in Sikkim in a landslide, defeating the Sikkim Sangram Parishad in its first-ever election.

It won 19 of the 32 seats.

That left it 2 seats clear of a majority.

The SDF took 59.4% of the seats on 42.0% of the vote.

The SSP fell to 10 seats on 35.1% of the vote.

Pawan Chamling founded the Sikkim Democratic Front on 4 March 1993, and the new party went on to win the following year's assembly election.¹

A confidence motion in Nar Bahadur Bhandari's Sikkim Sangram Parishad council of ministers was defeated in the assembly on 17 May 1994. Sanchaman Limboo was elected Leader of the House and formed a new government for the rest of the term, ending Bhandari's chief ministership months before the November election.²

The Election Commission held polling for Sikkim's fifth Legislative Assembly, its 32 seats, on 16 November 1994. Sikkim Democratic Front, Sikkim Sangram Parishad, Indian National Congress, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) fielded candidates, alongside 76 independents.³

The SSP saw its winning streak end in collapse.

It had won 3 elections in a row before this one.

The single biggest movement ran from SSP to SDF, covering 19 of the 22 seats that changed hands.

The SDF itself hadn't existed at the previous election, going from 0 seats to 19 seats this time.

Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, rose +10.3 pp from the previous election.

The closest race was at Loosing Pachekhani, Sikkim, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 12 votes.

Damthang, Sikkim had the widest margin of the year, with the winner finishing 43.9% of the vote ahead of the runner-up.

Ralong, Sikkim recorded the highest turnout of any seat, 84.2%.

Gangtok, Sikkim was the state's largest constituency by registered voters, with 9,960 names on the rolls, and also drew the most candidates, 12.

Turnout statewide reached 79.7%, the highest Sikkim had recorded up to that point.

Following an April 1975 referendum, the Indian Parliament's 36th Constitutional Amendment ended the Chogyal monarchy and made Sikkim India's 22nd state on 16 May 1975, with Kazi Lhendup Dorjee as its first Chief Minister.⁴

In 1984, Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari dissolved the Sikkim Janata Parishad, the party that had led Sikkim's government since 1979, and formed the Sikkim Sangram Parishad, which won 30 of 32 seats in 1985 and all 32 it contested in 1989.⁵