Election: Three candidates were selected to contest for the recently vacated post of Drametse gup in Mongar.

The chiwog meetings were held as per the December 3 notification from the election commission of Bhutan. Rinchen Wangdi, Kinzang Tshering and Karchung are the three candidates who will contest in the bye-election on December 29.  Two of the five chiwogs, Yengkharshing and Zangkhar did not have candidates.

After their documents are scrutinized, the eligible candidates will start campaigning from December 15 until 27.

The bye-election is conducted as per section 577 of the Election Act, which states that “the election commission shall, when the seat of a member elected to any house of parliament or local government becomes vacant on death or resignation or his/her election to the house is declared void, issue a notification calling upon the constituency concerned to elect a person to fill the vacant post.”

Dzongkhag election officer, Sangay Dorji, said he had no authority to change anything but to follow the notification issued by the commission. He said the whole process of holding a bye-election had to be completed within a month, during which he received no applications for postal ballot.

As per the January 23 notification from ECB, eligible postal ballot voters were given two weeks to initiate application for the postal ballot to the returning officer.

The bye-election is being held following the Drametse gup’s resignation. The gup had transferred his census to Ngatshang gewog last year.

This is the second bye-election for Mongar. The last election was held after the then Mongar gup passed away.

Tashi Phuntsho,  Drametse 

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