[1] In 1987 Samphel was elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, standing as the Indian National Congress candidate in the Leh seat.
[4] Following his tenure as Member of the Legislative Assembly, he served as Leh District Congress Committee president between 1990 and 1996.
[1] In December 2005 he reconstituted the Ladakh unit of the Indian National Congress, thereby challenging the position of the LUTF to be able to represent all Ladakhi Buddhists.
[11] On 20 March 2014 the Congress Party declared Samphel is its candidate for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in the parliamentary election.
His friend turned foe Ghulam Raza lost by 36 votes, the closest margin in the 2014 election, to Thupstan Chhewang of the Bharatiya Janata Party.