Lhakpa Quendren | Gelephu
Three candidates who contested for the Sarpang National Council (NC) seat have appealed to the high court to investigate the work experience of the Sarpang’s NC MP-elect Pema Tashi.
The Election Commission requires any candidate taking part in the National Council elections to have at least 10 years of work experience. However, a source has alleged that Pema Tashi has only eight years of work experience.
The source claims that Pema Tashi studied a two-year diploma course, but he obtained a two-year fake work experience letter from a private construction firm for the same year to add the work experience.
According to the claim, Pema Tashi pursued a diploma in information and management systems from June 2007 to July 2009 after Class 12 in 2006. He then worked for two years from 2009 to 2011 with the erstwhile agriculture ministry. After that, he went on to pursue a five-year LLB from July 2011 to July 2016, followed by a year-long postgraduate diploma.
“It is not that we are not happy with his winning, but we want transparency,” said one of the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs said that the Election Commission refused to share the document with them. “We feel that it is a public document.”
“Our democracy is still young and we should curb corruption from the very beginning,” a plaintiff said.
Refuting the accusation, Pema Tashi said that he has worked for over 13 years and was verified and cleared by the Election Commission.