PDP wins with record votes in Samtse, sweeps all four constituencies

KP Sharma

The four constituencies of Samtse played a decisive factor in securing People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) landslide victory in the primary round of the Assembly elections.

Despite being designated as a priority dzongkhag by all the political parties and a flurry of visits from party presidents, Samtse surprised voters by rallying behind PDP, surpassing expectation with a massive margin of victory.

PDP won 30 percent of the total voters registered in Samtse and obtained 12 percent vote for the party.

With a voter population of about 53,411, Samtse was  the battle ground where political parties left no stones unturned in their quest to capture the voter bank. This trend is evident across various constituencies in the dzongkhag.

In Dophuchin-Tading constituency with 14,685 voters, PDP secured the highest number of votes at 4,857 from both EVM and postal ballots.

This marked a bigger lead, with a margin of 3,415 votes over the second highest,  BTP who garnered a total of 1,442 votes. The third position was secured by DNT, followed by  DPT and  DTT.

The margin of PDP’s win was so huge that even when combining the votes obtained by all four parties, they did not reach PDP’s total as PDP maintained a lead of 890 votes on EVM and 224 votes in postal ballots.

PDP also stormed Phuentshogpelri-Samtse constituency, securing a total of 3,863 votes from both EVM and postal ballots. This gave PDP a lead of 2,508 votes over BTP, who received 1,355 votes.

Following closely were DPT and DNT, while DTT received the lowest number of votes. There are 12,340 registered voters in the constituency.

Even when combining the votes of all four candidates, PDP maintained a lead of 918 votes in the EVM count.

In the Tashichoeling Constituency, PDP took the lead with a combined total of 3,627 votes from both EVM and postal ballots. DPT secured the second position in contrast to other three constituencies with a total vote of 1,657 votes in EVM and postal ballots.

PDP’s margin was 1,970 more votes over DPT’s. The third highest votes went to DTT followed by BTP.

In the Ugyentse-Yoeseltse constituency with 11,659 registered voters, PDP secured the highest vote of 3,323. BTP again came second, but with a difference of 2,147 votes between the two leading candidates.

The third highest vote went to DNT  followed by DTT and DPT.

Even if all the four parties decide to vote for BTP in the general round, PDP’s hold is so firm that it is comfortable with the party already leading by 491 votes over the combined votes of the four parties.

Looking back on Samtse’s influence in the elections, it has become evident that the people have consistently chosen a different political party in each of the last three elections.

In 2008, Samtse supported DPT, followed by PDP in 2013 and DNT in the 2018 elections, consecutively electing members of Parliament (MPs) from the ruling party for three consecutive terms.