Securing 2,639 votes, the incumbent national council member Pema Dakpa was re-elected as Zhemgang’s candidate yesterday.

He secured 2,639 votes to beat Dorji Cheten, who secured 2,182 votes, Rinchen, who won 1,217 votes, Sonam Leki, who won 1,894 votes and Sangay Dorji’s 870 votes.

The 49-year-old from Khomshar village in Bardo gewog secured 1,391 EVM votes and 1,248 postal ballot votes, enough to seal him a comfortable win.

Dorji Cheten secured 1,556 votes from EVM and 626 through postal ballot while Rinchen won 802 EVM votes and 415 postal ballot votes.

Sangay Dorji won 504 EVM votes and 366 postal ballot votes.  Sonam Leki secured 1,116 EVM and 778 postal ballot votes.

Of the 40 polling stations in Zhemgang, Pema Dakpa won in 13 polling stations. He has aBSc in Agricultural Engineering and an MSc in Food Technology.

Pema Dakpa expressed his gratitude to the people of Khenrig Namsum who voted for him. “It shows that people are aware of what I did in the last five years,” he said.

A voter Sonam Dema, 35, came to vote carrying her nine-month old baby. “Voting is important and we must never miss this opportunity,” she said. 

Of the 18,396 eligible voters, 8,802 (EVM 5369 and 3,433 postal ballots) voted yesterday, which is a turnout of 47.8 percent. Among those who voted, 2,441 were male and 2,928 female. The dzongkhag received 3,433 valid postal ballots and 254 were invalid. 

A total of 4,835 voters had registered to vote through the conventional postal ballot in Zhemgang.

Ugyen Dorji | Zhemgang