Sangha Assembly constituency

[needs update] This seat is reserved for the Buddhist monastic community (Sangha) of Sikkim.

[5] Buddhist monks and nuns, registered with the 111 recognized monasteries in the state,[6] are the only ones who can contest and cast their votes for this Assembly seat.

[5] The Sangha constituency was created in 1958 for the Sikkim State Council,[1] after requests from the monastery associations to the Chogyal.

In 1993, a case was brought in the Supreme Court of India, challenging the reservation for the Sangha constituency and for the Bhutia-Lepcha constituencies in Sikkim, by Ram Chandra Poudyal[24] of the Rising Sun Party.

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, judging that the Sangha had played a major part in previous Councils' decision-making and the reservation is not based purely on religious distinctions and is, therefore, not unconstitutional.