Sikkim Assembly Elections 2024: Fmr India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia loses again, 6th defeat in 10 years

Bhaichung Bhutia hung up his football boots and plunged headlong into the world of politics in 2014 when he joined Trinamool Congress and contested 2014 Lok Sabha polls

Bhaichung Bhutia, the 47-year-old football legend from Sikkim, has been lucky in the game of football but not so lucky in the game of politics. Bhutia, who served as the captain of the Indian football team is yet to taste success in politics.

Bhutia hung up his football boots and plunged headlong into the world of politics in 2014 when he joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the Darjeeling seat but lost.

He again fought the 2016 West Bengal Assembly polls on a TMC ticket for the Siliguri seat but lost again.
He then shifted his political base to his home-state, Sikkim and launched his own party, the Hamro Sikkim Party. He fought the 2019 Sikkim Assembly polls but lost from the Gangtok and Tumen-Lingi seats. He also lost the 2019 bypoll for the Gangtok seat.

Later, in 2023, Bhutia merged his party with the SDF and this election he fought as SDF candidate from the Burfang seat only to lose for the 6th time in 10 years of his political career.

The big question now, will the football legend hang his boots from the field of politics now and once again focus more on the world of sports?

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