India's former football captain and Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) working president Bhaichung Bhutia on Saturday congratulated the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on winning the assembly polls and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim.
The SKM won a slender majority in the 32-member assembly by bagging 17 seats against 15 won by the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).
In a video message, Bhutia said, "I congratulate the SKM and its president P S Golay for its victory in the Sikkim assembly polls."
Bhutia had formed the HSP in April last year to usher in a corruption-free Sikkim, but failed to impress the electorate, with all its 20 candidates, who had contested the assembly polls, forfeiting deposits.
He fared miserably losing deposits from two assembly seats, Gangtok and Tumen-Linging, that he had contested.
He polled 70 votes (0.94 per cent of total votes polled)) in Gangtok to finish fourth, while in Tumen-Linging he bagged 234 votes (1.76 per cent of total votes polled) to finish third.
Accepting the verdict with humility, the former football legend said, his party was a nascent outfit, but determined to do well in future to serve the state and its people.
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