Annexation of Sikkim

Sikkim had become a protectorate of India in 1950. By 1974, several elections had been held in Sikkim; in the last elections, two rival parties merged to form the Sikkim Congress and won a massive victory in the polls. This party campaigned for greater political rights. The chogyal, the ruler of Sikkim, tried to suppress the movement but was not successful. He turned to India, and India prepared a constitution for Sikkim. The constitution was approved by the national assembly of Sikkim in 1974. In 1975, a special referendum was held in which an overwhelming majority of the electorate voted in favour of Sikkim’s merger with India. As a consequence, Sikkim was incorporated into the Indian Union as its 22nd state in May 1975 after the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Indian Constitution. Sikkim is of great strategic importance for India because of its location bordering on China.