Experience mattered in Bumthang this time. 

Incumbent member Nima is one of the five candidates that got re-elected this council elections. 

Nima secured 2,551 EVM votes against Kencho Tsheirng’s 2,071. Nima also lead the postal ballot by a difference of 614 votes. 

The gap was narrowed by Kencho Tshering’s vote from Chhoekhor gewog. He secured 1,128 EVM votes from Chhoekhor while Nima got 914. This is the only gewog, of the four, where Kencho Tshering won.

In Tang, Nima won 729 EVM votes while Kencho Tshering got 232.

The votes in remaining two gewogs of Chumey and Ura went in favour of Nima.

Nima got 316 EVM votes from Ura while Kencho Tshering secured 234. In Chumey, 592 EVM votes were for Nima against 387 for Kencho Tshering.

in an earlier interview, Nima said that he people has trusted given his experience of serving them for the last five years 

A 79-year-old resident of Chamkhar said both candidates were equally capable going by the live debate broadcast on national television. However, she said that Nima has the experience of representing the dzongkhag for the last five years and deserved another chance to prove his worth.

Among the EVM voters, Bumthang saw the highest turnout of 2,158 voters between the age of 25-45 years. This was followed by 1,136 voters between the age of 46-60 with 1,136. A total of 820 voters were above 61 years. The least turnout, 508, was in the age group of 18-24.

The dzongkhag had 9,752 registered voters of which 4,622 turned up at the polling stations to cast their votes. Some 1,310 voters used the postal ballot. 

Of the 4,570 male registered voters, only 1,939 showed up to vote using the EVM facility. Male voter turnout was only 42 percent compared to 51 percent for female voters. There are 5,182 registered female voters in Bumthang, of which 2,683 turned out to vote in percent. 

Including postal ballots, total voter turnout in the dzongkhag was 60.8.

Tshering Dorji | Bumthang