Dechen Dolkar 

Of the nine candidates in the eight “affected” gewogs where LG elections had to be held yesterday, six whose audit clearance was revoked have been elected.

The eight gewogs were Chapcha in Chukha, Dangchu and Nyisho gewogs in Wangdue, Patshaling in Tsirang, Guma in Punakha, Korphu in Trongsa, Soe in Thimphu, and Lunana in Gasa.

Changyul-Loongsigang-Tashijong chiwog in Guma gewog also had a tshogpa candidate who was elected.

According to the Election Commission of Bhutan’s (ECB) provisional result, six candidates got elected. The gup candidates of Dangchu, Nyisho, and Guma, whose audit clearances were revoked, did not get elected.

Chapcha’s gup-elect is Tobgay. He secured 774 votes.

Lunana’s gup-elect is Kaka. He secured 322 votes.

Korphu’s gup-elect is Sangay Khandu, who got 361 votes.

Chabi Kumar Rai is Patshaling’s gup-elect. He secured 807 votes.

Kencho Dorjee was the lone gup candidate from Soe, Thimphu, and was elected to the post again.

Guma has new gup-elect, Kinley Gyeltshen.

Similarly, Dangchu went for a new gup. Phub Dorji secured 640 votes.

Nyisho’s gup-elect is Dorji Dorji, who secured the highest vote count of 911 votes.

There were two female candidates contesting for the post of tshogpa in Changyul-Loongsigang-Tashijong chiwog. The former tshogpa, Namgay Bidha, was re-elected with 341 votes against Sonam Zangmo, who got 206 votes.

  There was only one female candidate contesting for the post of gup, in Chapcha; two female candidates contested for the post of tshogpa in the eight affected gewogs.




The election in these gewogs was deferred after the audit clearance of the nine candidates was reinstated on December 6. In November of last year, the Royal Audit Authority revoked the audit clearance of 12 candidates after the Anti-Corruption Commission found that they had pending corruption cases with the commission.

The ECB issued a notification soon after stating that it had rescheduled the election date for the nine candidates following a letter it received from the RAA on December 6, reinstating their audit clearances.