LG: Sarpang will see almost all incumbent gups re-contesting in the up-coming Local Government (LG) election.

Public support and encouragement is pushing all incumbents to re-contest, local leaders say.

Chuzagang Gup Sangay Tshering has been serving as a gup since 2006. He said he is re-contesting for a third term because of the trust and faith people have in him. “People have been insisting that I must re-contest and if I don’t, it won’t look good,” he said.

Moreover, he is of the view that developmental activities which are half way through,should be continued by the same person who started it for best results.

Sangay Tshering will contest against at least five new gup candidates.

Samtenling Gup Karma Galey has similar reasons to re-contest for a second term, the main being the support and encouragement of the public.

“I also have a lot of on-going 11th Plan activities which I feel need close attention of the one who started it,” he said.  One such activity is the construction of a 56km-irrigation channel in Samtenling. So far only 2km of the channel has been completed.

Samtenling gewog has about three new candidates preparing to contest in the up-coming election in July.

For Gakidling Gup, Nim Dorji Sherpa, it is experience that matters to effectively serve as a local leader.  “I don’t doubt the capability of new candidates but my experience so far says I can serve better should I be given a chance,” he said. “It’ll be an honour to serve the people for a second term.”

However, he said on the current tenure of the serving gups, the Election Commission of Bhutan should decide early as to when the incumbents should be relieved. This will enable appropriate handing-taking over of activities without having to rush at a last minute’s notice. “Timely resignation would also provide adequate time for re-contesting candidates to prepare for the up-coming election,” Nim Dorji Sherpa said. “Getting all documents ready takes a lot of time.”

Among the 12 gups in Sarpang, Jigmechholing Gup Sherab Jamtsho is the only one who has decided not to re-contest.

He said since he has already served two terms, he feels he should give opportunity to new, young and enthusiastic candidates. “It’ll be selfish of experienced and veteran candidates to contest again and again,” he said.

Sarpang has an adequate number of candidates for the up coming election for the post of gup. It is estimated that at least four candidates each in a gewog are preparing to contest in the July LG election.

Nirmala Pokhrel | Sarpang