Gangtok, March 3 -- The Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC), led by Convener Tseten Tashi Bhutia, has submitted an open letter to Chief Minister P. S. Tamang, urging immediate action to safeguard the constitutional rights of the Bhutia-Lepcha (BL) community under Article 371F.

The letter highlights concerns over the erosion of constitutional protections and calls for the implementation of high-security holographic identification papers and digitization of the Sikkim Subject Certificate (SSC) and Certificate of Identification (COI) to prevent misuse. SIBLAC also demands the restoration of 50% reserved seats for the BL community in Panchayati Raj institutions, which were reduced to 8% under the 2018 Sikkim Panchayat (Amendment) Ac...