Sikkim National Congress ( SNC) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Kingdom of Sikkim The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monar ...

. It was founded in 1962, through a merger of

Swatantra Dal Sikkim Swatantra Dal (translation: ''Sikkim Independence Party'') was a political party in Sikkim. The party was founded and led by Namgay Tsering and Kazi Lhendup Dorji.Joshi, Hargovind. Sikkim: Past and Present'. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, ...

, Rajya Praja Sammelan, and dissidents of the then dominant parties,

Sikkim State Congress The Sikkim State Congress, or ''SSC'', was an annexationist political party in the Kingdom of Sikkim. It was founded in 1947 and worked closely with the Indian National Congress (INC) to successfully achieve the annexation of Sikkim to India. Oth ...

and

Sikkim National Party Sikkim National Party was a political party in the Kingdom of Sikkim, formed in 1950. The Sikkim National Party was in favour of the monarchy and advocated independence for Sikkim. The party was founded to counter the growing influence of the pro- ...

Kazi Lhendup Dorjee Kazi Lhendup Dorjee (11 October 1904 – 28 July 2007), also spelled Lhendup Dorji or Lhendup Dorji Khangsarpa, was the first chief minister of Sikkim from 1975 to 1979 after its union with India. Early life Lhendup Dorjee was born in 1904 in P ...

was its leader. The SNC was formed to be a party representing all ethnic groups in

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

, as the previously dominating parties were divided on ethnic lines. It opposed the monarchy in Sikkim and worked for democratic reforms. In April 1973,

Sikkim Janata Congress Sikkim Janata Congress (translation: ''Sikkim Popular Congress'') was a political party in Sikkim, active in the struggle for democratic reforms. SJC was founded when the Sikkim State Congress and Sikkim Janata Party merged, in October 1972. K.C ...

merged with SNC. In

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, the first democratically elected government took office in

. In that election, the party won 31 out of 32 seats. After the merger of

with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1975, the party merged with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

Electoral history

References

{{reflist . Defunct political parties in Sikkim 1962 establishments in Sikkim Political parties established in 1962 Political parties disestablished in 1977 1977 disestablishments in India