The Bhutanese Leading the way.
During the primary round, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) had won all the six constituencies in Dagana, Tsirang and Sarpang.
DNT scored a total of 38,811 votes including both Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Postal Ballot (PB) while DPT scored 19,732 total votes. In addition, DNT secured higher votes both in terms of EVM and PB in all the six constituencies.
Tsirang
With 12,758 total votes, DNT marked a landslide victory in Tsirang taking over the seats in both the constituencies. DPT had just 5,910 votes.
In Kilkhorthang-Mendrelgang constituency, DNT’s candidate, Bimal Thapa, scored 6,681 votes of which 1,954 were postal votes. Combining 1,019 postal votes and 1,946 EVM votes, DPT’s candidate Yangku Tshering Sherpa got 2,965 total votes.
Bimal Thapa credited his victory to the party’s ideology and manifesto. “The party won because of our decent manifesto which comes with innovative pledges and our ideology of narrowing the gap between rich and poor,” furthering adding, “Constituency wise, I feel that people voted for the party because of all these reasons, not me.”
He said his main priority for his constituency is to upgrade some schools to higher secondary and bring quality farm road to every nook and cranny.
In Sergithang- Tsirangtoed constituency, DNT’s candidate, Garja Man Rai, scored a total of 6,077 votes of which 1,806 were postal votes. DPT’s candidate, Kewal Ram Adhikari, scored 2,945 votes (909 PB + 2,036 EVM).
Garja Man Rai said the main reason for the victory was the leadership skills and popularity of the party president in the south, and the people’s preference for the new government to experiment the change.
“People also looked at our manifesto and pledges due to which I think I could garner huge amount of votes with all these collective factors,” and added, “Overall, we had a good blend of candidates in terms of experience and age.”
Sarpang
In Sarpang, DNT took over the lead with 13,709 votes in both the constituencies, while DPT scored a total of 8,295 votes from the two constituencies.
In Shompangkha constituency, DNT’s Tek Bahadhur Rai received 7,018 (1,625 PB + 5,393 EVM) votes against 2,862 (745 PB + 2,117 EVM) total votes secured by DPT’s Deo Kumar Rimal.
Tek Bahadhur said the victory was due to the collective effort of the party and team members where the party president’s capability played the main role. “And of course, we provided good pledges and people wanted to have a change in the government too.”
Individually, he said his landslide victory in his constituency could be his commitment to the people about the long-term development plans in the region. “Having civil engineering as my professional background, future provision is always in my mind.”
He said one of the main reasons for his win because households in his constituency are poor and want that gap to be narrowed.
He added that the people shouldn’t be worrying about the implication of pledges and the budget allocation. “We will fulfill our commitment gradually and not immediately.”
In Gelephu constituency, DNT’s Karma Donnen Wangdi scored 6,691 total votes of which 2,417 were postal votes. DPT’s Pema Tashi scored 5,433 votes (2,065 PB + 3,368 EVM).
Karma Donnen said the victory was all due to the party’s leadership and manifesto, while DPT’s Pema Tashi said the DNT winning is no surprise due to the DNT’s presidential campaigning in southern region that was complimented by speaking fluent ‘Lhotsham’ language.
Dagana
DNT swept Dagana with 12,344 total votes. DPT managed to score 5,527 total votes from the two constituencies.
In Drujeygang- Tseza constituency, DNT’s Jurmi Wangchuk scored 6,087 (2,109 PB + 3,978 EVM) total votes against 2,939 (962 PB +1,977 EVM) total votes by DPT’s Migma Dorji.
While the result was not a surprise, Jurmi Wangchuk said the landslide victory was overwhelming. “This success is measured by the party’s manifesto and ideology focused mainly for the grass root level citizens,” he said and further added that the people also voted for change so as to test the party’s caliber.
In Lhamoizingkha- Tashiding constituency, DNT’s Hemant Gurung scored a total votes of 6,257 of which 1,924 were postal votes. DPT’s Prem Kumar Khatiwara scored 2,588 of which 808 were postal votes.
Hemant Gurung credits his victory to the party’s manifesto and the collective effort of the party members and supporters. “DNT comes with a special and unique manifesto which covers the issues of common people, like health, maternity allowance and various other pledges.”
