The Bhutanese Leading the way.
As recently reported in the media the electorate are in a state of confusion with the National Council (NC) elections. And perhaps they are not alone, the contestants or the NC aspirants themselves seem to be confused over the inconsistency of the election notifications.
The candidature of Kunzang Dorji from Bongo Gewog under Chukha Dzongkhag had to be cancelled since he could not present himself during the Zomdu on 18 March.
“I was requested by the people to stand from the Gewog but when I knew about Zomdu it was in the eleventh hour,” he said. Therefore he lost the opportunity to stand for the nomination since getting the entire clearance certificate was not possible for him.
He added that the Zomdu took place on Monday and he found out only on Friday (15 March) which was over the weekends.
“My only question is, when the filing of nomination papers should be done latest by 31 March then why did the Dzongkhag Election Officer ask for the documents,” he added.
However the Chukha Dzongkhag Election officer Dawa said that Kunzang Dorji should present himself during the Zomdu as people should vote on a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ basis.
“Regarding the Election, the notification is circulated and the Zomdu scheduled for all the gewogs is passed through the local government,” he said. In addition, he said under Chukha Dzongkhag they have to complete all the Zomdus within three weeks for 12 different gewogs including Thromdes.
“Therefore postponing the Zomdu for one gewog will create lots of inconveniences later,” he added.
As per the notification from the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) some of the required certificates are tax clearance certificate, audit clearance certificate, asset declaration and related certificates.
Since Kunzang could not arrange the required documents he failed to attend the Zomdu in person. Therefore people in the Bongo gewog had to sign stating that there is no candidate from their gewog.
He added that ECB didn’t notify him about the Zomdus and also the public were completely unaware of Zomdu and its purpose.
“The confusion is the ECB’s notification of 31 March as the final date for filing nomination and in some places Zomdus have already taken place, while in Bongo it was on 18 March and they stopped the nomination some 10 days before,” he said.
Meanwhile some gewogs had their National Council nominees despite non-submission of all the certificates.
For this the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dasho Kunzang Wangdi said that in some places, a person may have been given time to produce a few documents but before the last date of filing the nomination, as per a written undertaking taken by the officers at their discretion sometimes.
“Every rules and regulations should be followed by every citizen but why is there inconsistency in following it. There is no level playing field,” said Kunzang Dorji.
He is a graduate with MSc degree from the University of Oxford in UK. He resigned from civil service to participate in Bhutan’s first parliamentary elections in 2008 as a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate from Bongo-Chapcha Constituency.
While discussing this issue with the ECB commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi said “I was approached by him saying that he didn’t have his papers so I advised him to meet the local election office to discuss on it.”
Who follows your laws? There has been some comments in Sarpang about guile and rashness in ways of bringing Sonam Denkar, a National Council nominee from Jugmecholing to arena. There are two questions that are raised, she just had voter card, identity card and college marksheet. ‘we were told to bring all the documents on the Zomdu spot else our nomination could be halted’ is a fine joke that election commision throws.
Another painful story is there are six chiwogs in Jigmecholing, three chiwogs where the zomdu was called signed on paper stating they had no candidate, on reaching Jigmecholing the team from Dzongkhag arranged a lady, asked three Chiwogs to vote where she secured 156 yes and Noes in fourties. The question is where will the points of other three Chiwogs be added? Or Can Gewog Zomdu be called Gewog Zomdu when only three of the Six Chiwogs knew about the candidate. Who do you think is politicizing the Society? Should the team be questioned on the ethics, moral responsibilities and integrity. Do we have rule of law or is someone ruling the law?
I’m also confused whether those NC aspirants who fail to get elected for the NC post will be allowed to join a political party. Some parties may wait for the NC elections to be over and pull those candidates who do not get elected.
The comment above by the Blind seer seems to be true to some extent, how comes Gewog Tshogpa and gups urge a NC Candidate to stand or withdraw? read kuensel for further details here http://www.kuenselonline.com/sarpang-nominates-six-council-candidates/#.UU1uehdHKvg “Although I was interested to contest in the election, I didn’t have the confidence as I lacked experience,” she said. “But the village tshogpa and other gewog officials encouraged me to contest.” said the nominee, surely corruption must be checked.
hahaahahahahah!
If i m not mistaken, then i heard the same story from the NC candidate of Lhamoizingkha who was forced to stand for NC. after his graduation, he stayed in the village for 2 years and people there recommended his name. but during the zomdu time, he had gone to collect his degree certificates. as he is a very known educated person in Lhamoyzingkha, he is known by 70% of his geog people, so even in his absence people would have voted for him. despite several request from some people, the officers in-charge denied his candidature and noted there was no NC aspirants. I think such things will really discourage our young graduates to stay back in the village and do the research. as for me, i came to know that there is no media coverage in lhamoyzingkha and he was not aware of all required documents. just to keep his village people happy he felt he should participate n serve the other people of dagana in a bigger way if he is elected but i think he is unlucky so he couldnot be present during the zomdu. concerned friend of the NC aspirant.
Photograph of Ms Denka (Jigmecholing, Sarpang) at the top of EVM so that the voters largely the villagers in a confused & nervous state during the voting day will SIMPLY PRESS the button which is at the TOP and the intended candidate will be the winner. (Generally it happened, you may ask a villager : Do u really think u pressed the right button to choose the right candidate? Ans: Not sure I just pressed one of the button. (Generally it will be the top button).
NC aspirants should not be given chance to join politics if they fail in NC election. If on the other hand, the purpose of apolitical is defeated.
ECB itself is in a confused – therefore, i am giving a new name – Extremely Confused Baedeker !
ECB, please give postal ballot facilities to the employees of private and corporate employees. It will have big impact on the voter turnover on the day of polling. If ECB do not act fast, just watch and see.