Ugyen Dorji
Mongar — With only a day left for the fourth National Assembly Poll Day, Mongar appears all set.
Election officials said that to ensure the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) function, before sending them to the different polling stations, they were thoroughly checked and tested.
Officials said if the machines break down on the poll day, a backup machine is sent for each polling station, some machines were also placed in identified strategic locations.
“If the machines experience some problems officials could fetch replacements from the nearby polling station,” an official said.
Election officials said that there was no issue with the EVM so far and expressed confidence in a smooth election.
All polling officials attended a one-day refresher course on Saturday where they were also briefed on the Dos and Don’ts of the election process, demonstrated the use of EVM, and learned the usage of machines.
Mongar dzongkhag has deployed about 560 polling officials, including security personnel, who left for respective polling stations yesterday morning.
Before leaving for their polling stations, the vehicles are thoroughly checked by the Bhutan Construction and Transport Authority (BCTA) officials for any defects.
Some vehicles were found poor condition and they were repaired before leaving to drop polling officials. Royal Bhutan Police tested whether drivers consumed alcohol or not.
Election officials said that all polling officials should reach their respective polling stations by yesterday evening.
Some of the furthest polling stations are at Yangbari and Baagla under Gongdue gewog.
Mongar has 71 polling stations, 24 in Dramedtse-Ngatsang constituency, 27 in Kengkhar-Weringla, and 20 in Mongar constituency.
Of the three constituencies in the dzongkhag, Dramedtse-Ngatshang constituency has the highest number of voters with 14,885 (7,724 females and 7,161 males) eligible registered voters.
The Mongar constituency has the lowest with about 11,669 voters.
More than 90 percent of the over 11,201 postal ballots issued for the three constituencies reached the dzongkhag election office as of yesterday.