Nar Bahadur Bhandari


Nar Bahadur Bhandari was a chief minister of the state of Sikkim in India who governed the state from 1979 to 1994. He was the founding leader of the Sikkim Sangram Parishad party. He was popularly remembered for his efforts to include the Nepali language in 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. He was the first Indian chief minister of Gorkha origin. He also served as the president of Bharatia Nepali Bhasha Parisangh until his death. He is popularly known as the architect of modern Sikkim.

Personal life

Nar Bahadur Bhandari was born on 5 October 1940 in Malbasay village, near Soreng, West Sikkim. He earned his BA degree from Darjeeling Government College and worked as a school teacher for some years before entering politics. His wife, Dil Kumari Bhandari, is a former member of parliament from Sikkim.

Politics

Bhandari founded the Sikkim Janata Parishad in 1977. This party won the state assembly election in 1979, and he became the chief minister for the first time on 18 October 1979. In 1984, he also served briefly as member of parliament from the Sikkim constituency in the 8th Lok Sabha as an independent candidate. In 1984, Bhandari dissolved Sikkim Janata Parishad and formed a new party called Sikkim Sangram Parishad. This party ran in the assembly elections in 1985 and won, and Bhandari became the chief minister for the second time. In 1989, SSP returned to power by winning the assembly elections. In a rare instance in Indian national politics, the SSP became the singular party in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, winning all 32 seats in the house. In 1994, Bhandari lost a vote of confidence in the state assembly, and he resigned as chief minister. Later, he served as a member of the legislative assembly from 1994 to 2004.
In 1994, SSP lost the assembly elections to the Sikkim Democratic Front led by Pawan Kumar Chamling. SSP also lost the 1999 assembly election. In the 2004 state assembly elections, Bhandari ran under the Congress party, but the party lost the election, winning only one seat in the assembly. In May 2007, he was sentenced to prison for one month in a corruption case. Again in the 2009 assembly elections, the Congress party under Bhandari failed to win any seat in the state assembly.
In the 2014 election, his party unanimously supported a new political party SKM under the leadership of PS Golay. Bhandari, despite his conviction in a corruption case continued campaigning for SKM which managed to win only 10 seats out of 32. Prior to his death, he was closely involved with the SKM party; he gave his last speech at the SKM Foundation Day Celebration in Singtam on 4 February 2017.
His notable political accomplishments are free education from elementary to graduate school, establishing nearby schools-- within a radius of 3 to 4 km-- for all residents, providing drinking water to every household in Sikkim, building a network of roads to all major villages in Sikkim, bringing all rural areas onto the electric grid, and the setup of vast healthcare centers.

Later life and death

Bhandari became the president of the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee after he had merged SSP with the Indian National Congress in 2003. In May 2013, he was reinstated as the president of SSP. In 2014, he was convicted in a CBI corruption case.
Bhandari died on 16 July 2017 following spinal surgery.
His final rites were performed with full state honour by the current chief minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, including a 21-gun salute. In a very rare gesture, the family of the former king of Sikkim sent their royal flag to be wrapped around Bhandari during the state funeral.

Electoral records

; Sikkim Legislative Assembly election
YearConstituencyPolitical PartyResultPositionVotes% Votes% MarginDepositSource
1979SoreongSJPWon1st/71,83370.26+55.88refunded
1985SoreongSSPWon1st/52,96480.48+63.29refunded
1989SoreongSSPWon1st/34,71291.53+83.76refunded
1994SoreongSSPWon1st/43,29151.83+6.38refunded
1999SoreongSSPLost2nd/33,39048.85-0.95refunded
1999RhenockSSPWon1st/43,36455.97+13.11refunded
2004Central Pendam-East PendamINCLost2nd/42,16522.77-36.34refunded
2004GangtokINCLost2nd/42,82931.70-34.99refunded
2009Soreong-ChakungINCLost2nd/52,37824.34-42.16refunded
2009Khamdong-SingtamINCLost2nd/33,03239.76-16.60refunded

; Lok Sabah election, Sikkim
YearConstituencyPolitical PartyResultPositionVotes% Votes% MarginDepositSource
1984SikkimINDWon1st/856,61468.50+42.69refunded
1996SikkimSSPLost2nd/742,17524.50-47.65refunded