Sikkim registers record 83 percent voting

October 7th, 2009 GANGTOK - Tourist arrivals in Sikkim record an increase due to its natural beauty and peaceful environment. Around 2,80,000 tourists visited Sikkim in the first five months of 2009, which is nearly 35 percent more than the last year.

June 22nd, 2009 GANGTOK - Union Minister of State for Information Technology Sachin Pilot Monday said Sikkim has potential to emerge as an IT and BPO hub and assured that all 450 villages in the state will have telephone and broadband connectivity soon. "The exchanges in all the villages of the state's 26 blocks will be brought under the telecom and broadband network soon," Pilot told IANS here.

May 21st, 2009 GANGTOK - The first session of the newly elected 32-member Sikkim assembly, which has no opposition member after the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) swept the polls, begins Friday. Governor B.P.

May 16th, 2009 GANGTOK - Counting of votes cast for elections to the 32 assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat of Sikkim began Saturday morning, poll officials said. Counting began at 8 a.m.

April 30th, 2009 GANGTOK - About 50 percent voter turnout in the first four hours of polling was estimated by poll officials in Sikkim, where elections were underway Thursday for the one Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies. There were more women than men in the queues which started forming even before the polling centres opened at 7 a.m.

April 30th, 2009 GANGTOK - Long queues were seen outside booths as polling began for one Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies in the Himalayan state of Sikkim Thursday. The situation was peaceful with no reports of any untoward incidents, police said.

April 30th, 2009 GANGTOK - Over 56 percent polling was recorded by 3 p.m. in Sikkim, where elections were underway Thursday for the one Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies.

April 30th, 2009 GANGTOK - Long queues were seen outside polling booths in Sikkim, where elections were underway Thursday for the one Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies. The situation was peaceful with no reports of any untoward incidents, police said.

April 25th, 2009 GANGTOK - With an aim to give a fillip to the pilgrimage tourism in Sikkim, a Buddhist hub, the royal Bhutan Airlines has started a service between Bhutan and West Bengal has decided to link Sikkim, benefiting the Buddhist Circuit area. Lukendra Rasaily, General Secretary, Travel Agents Association Of Sikkim (TAAS), said that with the promotion of the Buddhist Circuit a lot more tourists would visit Sikkim.

April 24th, 2009 AGARTALA - Tripura has registered a record 84 percent polling in Thursday's parliamentary elections to two Lok Sabha constituencies, officials said here Friday. 'Braving summer heat and security threats, 84 percent of the 2,082,265 voters, including 1,016,559 women, have cast their ballot across the northeastern state,' said Dilip Acherjee, additional chief electoral officer.

April 4th, 2009 GANGTOK - Bhutan's flagship carrier Druk Air will launch a new flight April 18 connecting Bagdogra in West Bengal with Paro in Bhutan and Thai capital Bangkok, it was announced here Saturday. An Airbus A-319 aircraft will fly the Paro-Bagdogra-Bangkok route twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Druk Air chief executive Tandin Jamso told reporters here.

March 24th, 2009 GANGTOK - Keen to improve tourist inflow into the State, the Sikkim Government recently launched a casino. With an annual increase of 20 per cent in tourist inflow in recent years, Sikkim is the only state in the country offering land based live casino facilities and complete casino gaming to tourists.

March 22nd, 2009 GANGTOK - Creative minds from across India came up with diverse paintings at a weeklong art festival in Sikkim. The festival started on March 16 and will end on March 23.

February 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday denied media reports that it had reached an electoral alliance with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Sikkim. The CPI-M said in a statement here that a party member, who attended a meeting where it was announced that the three parties were joining hands, does 'not represent the views of the Sikkim committee of the party'.

December 24th, 2008 SILIGURI - A low-intensity tremor was felt along the India-Nepal border areas in Sikkim and in parts of West Bengal's hill district Darjeeling Thursday morning, official said. 'A slight-intensity tremor, measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale, was felt along the Indo-Nepal border in Sikkim and in some parts of West Bengal's Darjeeling district,' regional Met Office (North Bengal-Sikkim) director Gopinath Raha said.