Former Dramitse gup questions how he had breached the laws when his census transfer was verified and approved by all agencies 

LG: The former Dramitse gup Tshering Dorji, who vacated his post last week is not yet clear about how he had breached the local government Act, as alleged by the National Council and why other agencies that processed his census transfer are not being questioned.

The gup, while in office had transferred his census from Dramitse on November 28 to Ngatshang gewog last year.

The Council on November 22 resolved that an elected member should vacate the post one is holding should the individual transfer his or her census during the tenure. The House had asked the government to take urgent actions against him for transferring his census.

However, the former gup insists that he transferred his census following an announcement from the ECB, which stated that those who intend to take part in the next local government election in 2016 could transfer before December 31, 2014.

According to him, no questions were asked or his decision objected to by the election officer or the census officer when he processed the transfer. “The dzongkhag and ministry officials verified my documents and if I have breached any laws, why haven’t the agencies taken any action yet?”

Dzongkhag election officer Sangay Dorji said he learnt about the gup’s census transfer a month after the home ministry had approved it. “There is as such no law that states that an elected member holding a post is not allowed to transfer his or her census,” he said.

The dzongkhag census officer Chimmi Tshewang agreed that there is no such law. He said, the dzongkhag census office’s responsibility is to verify the census transfer details and forward it online to the home ministry.  He said last November was also the last month to transfer one’s census to contest in the 2016 election.

Former gup Tshering Dorji’s application to transfer his census reached the dzongkhag census office on November 12, 2014 and after it was verified through an online process on November 25, his census was declared transferred to Ngatshang gewog on November 28. The dzongkhag census office had transferred 60 censuses in October 2014.

By Tashi Phuntsho, Mongar