Introduction
Pawan Chamling (Nepali: पवन चाम्लिङ) (born 22 September 1950) is the fifth and incumbent Indian chief minister of Sikkim. Chamling is the founder president of the Sikkim Democratic Front, which has governed the state for five successive terms since 1994.
He is also the longest standing Chief Minister in India, having won the legislative assembly elections for 5 terms in a row and will be completing 25 years of governance by the next legislative elections in 2019 creating a political history in India.
On 28th April 2018 he is set to be India's longest serving Chief Minister ever. Right now the record is with Jyoti Basu who was Chief Minister of West Bengal from 21st June 1977 to 6th November 2000 (23 years 4 months and 16 days).
Personal life
Chamling was born in Yangang, South Sikkim to Ashbahadur Chamling and Asharani Chamling. Chamling is also a Nepali language writer and recipient of the Bhanu Puraskar (2010) awarded by Sikkim Sahitya Parishad. He writes under the pen name Pawan Chamling Kiran. Mr. Chamling has 8 children, 4 sons and 4 daughters.
Political career
Chamling was elected as the president of Yangang Gram Panchayat in 1982. In 1985, he was elected to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the first time. After being elected for the second time from Damthang, he became the Minister for Industries, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992 in the Nar Bahadur Bhandari cabinet. After a series of major political upheavals in Sikkim, Chamling formed the Sikkim Democratic Front on 4 March 1993.
Chamling is the second chief minister in India after Jyoti Basu, of West Bengal to govern a state five terms in a row, with his party Sikkim Democratic Front winning the 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 Sikkim Legislative Assembly elections. His party first came to power in Sikkim after winning the 1994 assembly elections. His popularity kept soaring in Sikkim due to his developmental work and for maintaining peace. In 2009, his party Sikkim Democratic Front won all 32 assembly seats in Sikkim Legislative Assembly.
Following win in 2014 assembly election, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the fifth consecutive time on May 21, 2014 by Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil, the Governor of Sikkim. He became the chief minister for a fifth time, a record previously held by Jyoti Basu who ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.
His party SDF won 22 out of 32 assembly seats in the 2014 legislative assembly election. 18 months after the 2014 elections, on November 30, 2015, 7 out of 10 opposition MLAs joined the SDF party under the leadership of Pawan Chamling. Now the ruling front has 28 out of 32 assembly seats in the state.
On 18 January 2016 Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made a two-day visit to the state to declare Sikkim as the first and the only "organic state" in the country, as it has fully implemented organic farming statewide.