With the deployment of the polling officials to the polling stations and all the polling stations set up, Wangdue and Punakha are ready for the poll day of the general election of the third parliamentary election.

The voters can vote at the polling stations from 9am to 5pm.

Except for few polling stations, the election officials, including the returning officers and the observers of both the dzongkhags, made rounds of the polling stations yesterday to make sure everything was okay.

The office of the returning officer in Wangdue deployed 223 polling officials and 144 security personnel to the 48 polling stations in the dzongkhag on September 16.

Punakha deployed 154 polling officials and 109 security personnel to the 30 polling stations across 12 gewogs on the same day.

The office of the returning officer in Punakha and Wangdue started opening the postal ballot envelope A packages from the afternoon of September 16 and would continue counting the ballots today.

The returning officers and the counting officials would begin opening envelope B by afternoon today.

Athang-Thedtsho’s returning officer in Wangdue, Tshering Penjor, said no formal complaints were lodged to the office of the Returning officer.

Presiding officer with the polling station in Bajo Higher Secondary School in Wangdue, Norbu, said the polling station would provide priority seating facility to the voters. “We would place eight chairs each at both side of the entrance for expecting mothers, old people, differently-abled voters and women carrying babies.”

The facility, he said, was being provided for the convenience of the voters who cannot stand in the queue for a longer time.

Norbu said that while preference would be given to the old people, expecting mothers, and mothers carrying babies to sit on chairs until they reach their turn to vote, differently-abled people and old people would be given the priority to vote when they reach the station.

“We have set up the voting compartment, cross-checked all the voter details and we are ready for the poll day,” Norbu said.

In Wangdue, Gasetsho-wom gewog in Athang-Thedtshog constituency has the lowest number of eligible voters at 530 and Rubesa has the highest with 2,055 voters. Phangyul gewog in Nyishu-Sephu constituency has the lowest registered voters with 1,154 voters and with 1,890 eligible voters, Nyisho gewog has the highest number voters in the dzongkhag.

Of the 12 gewogs in Punakha, Toedwang has the highest registered voters at 1,612 and Lingmukha has the lowest with 1,136 voters. With 2,199 registered voters, Kabisa has the highest number of voters in Kabisa-Talog constituency and Khuruthang thromde has the lowest with 119 voters.

Dechen Tshomo  | Punakha