LG: A total of 96 candidates from eight gewogs in Thimphu will contest for local government elections this year.

Of 40 candidates from Kawang, Soe, Naro and Lingzhi, North Thimphu has nine women aspirants for the post of gup, mangmi and tshogpa. South Thimphu has 18 women candidates.

A total of 24 aspirants, 13 and 11 from the south and north Thimphu respectively, will contest for the post of gup.

Chang and Maedwang gewogs in South and Soe in North Thimphu have the highest number of aspirants for gup – four each – followed by Ge-nyen and Kawang gewogs with three each. Darkarla, Naro and Lingzhi have two gup candidates each.

Karma Zangmo and Choki from Maedwang gewog in South Thimphu and Tshering Yangzom from Soe in North Thimphu are the only women competing for the gup post in Thimphu.

South Thimphu has 11 mangmi candidates from the four gewogs, of which four are women. Dechen Tshomo is the lone woman mangmi candidate from Lingzhi and she will compete against eight male contestants.

There are 52 candidates for the post of tshogpa in 40 chiwogs. Nineteen are women. Darkarla, Ge-nyen, Maedwang and Kawang gewogs have nine tshogpa candidates each, followed by Chang, Soe and Naro with five each. Passang from Shayuel is the only tshogpa candidate from Lingzhi gewog.

Thukten Wangchuk, 61, is the oldest gup candidate and Yeshi Nidup, 28, is the youngest. Both are from Kawang gewog in north Thimphu.

Perpon, 61, from Kawang, is the oldest mangmi candidate in Thimphu. Sonam Dorji from Kawang, Dawa Zam from Maedwang and Dechen Tshomo from Lingzhi are the youngest mangmi candidates.

Passang, 57, from Lingzhi is the oldest tshogpa candidate, and Dendup, 26, from Naro, is the youngest.

Of the eight gewogs in Thimphu, Maedwang gewog has the highest candidates with 16, followed by Ge-nyen gewog with 15 and, Darkarla and Kawang gewogs have 14 each.

Soe has 12 candidates, Chang 11 and Naro nine. Lingzhi gewog has the lowest candidates with just five.

Thimphu has a total of 6,305 registered voters. Maedwang in the south and Kawang in the north have the highest number of eligible voters – 2,589 and 1,154 respectively.

Dechen Tshomo

Supported by Bhutan Media Foundation and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

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