Rinzin Wangchuk

With the completion of dhamngoi zomdus at the gewog level, Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag has six candidates including one from the thromde, to contest in the upcoming National Council (NC) elections.

Of the six candidates nominated between February 27 and March 7, the oldest is 59 years old and youngest is 37. A total of 2,405 voters participated in the 14 dhamngoi zomdus.

Martshala gewog had two aspirants but one was eliminated during the zomdu held on March 1.

In the first dhamngoi zomdu on February 27, Samdrupjongkhar thromde nominated Karma Tshering Wangchuk, 59, as NC candidate with 120 Yes votes and 10 No votes.

The lone aspirant from Gomdar gewog, Tshewang Rinchen, 37, sealed his nomination by securing 326 Yes votes from a total of 363 votes.

In Lauri gewog, Tempa Gyaltshen, 39, secured 235 Yes votes against 33 No votes.

Martshala gewog saw not only the highest voter turnout with 954 but also two nominees racing neck and neck. The gewog chose Tshering Norbu, 49, with 491 votes to represent their gewog’s NC candidate. The other contestant Ugyen Dorji, 46, lost by 28 votes.

Tshering Choeda, 46, is nominated from Pemathang gewog. He secured 313 Yes votes in the nomination round held on March 2.

Langchenphu gewog nominated Ran Bahadur Biswa, 49, with 272 Yes votes and 35 No votes confirming his NC candidature.

Initially, there were 10 aspirants, according to a dzongkhag official.  One nominee from the thromde withdrew his candidature before the nomination zomdu. One nominee from Serthi gewog was disqualified after he failed to meet the experience criteria and another nominee from Pemathang could not make it to dhamngoi zomdu because of a security clearance issue.

Of the 11 gewogs in Samdrupjongkhar, six gewogs of Phuntshothang, Samrang, Serthi, Wangphu, Orong, and Dewathang did not have any nominees.

In the 2018 NC elections, Samdrupjongkhar nominated six candidates.

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