The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The National Council Poll day will take place on 20th April and counting of results will be done and revealed to the media on the same day. After that the results will be declared formally and submitted to His Majesty The King on 21st April.
The Petition period will also start on the same day, and any issues concerning the NC election should be filed within the petition period to the High Court. The Petition period will end on 8th May. The newly elected NC members will re-constitute their office on 10th May ensuring the continuity of the National Council.
After the close of polls, the polling stations will be considered as the Counting Centers where the EVM results will be counted immediately, as per the set procedure, and relayed to the Returning Officers and the National Counting Centre through the SMS Election Information Relay System developed specifically for this purpose.
Candidates or their representatives can witness and observe all stages of the polling and counting procedures but they are not allowed to make public statements on estimates and guesses before the official declaration of the results, states the Commission.
The ECB also announced that voters are not to carry any sort of recording devices in and around a Polling Station or carry any weapons or arms which can be used to cause bodily harm on poll day.
The polling hours on the Poll Day shall be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, those voters already in the queue at 5 p.m. shall be allowed to vote with the last voter present at that time in the queue being given token numbers.
With the National Council election for 20 dzongkhags slated for 20th April, most of the candidates have covered their respective dzongkhags or are left with only few gewogs for campaigning. The three-day early NC polls through the facilitation booths set around the country which started from 12th April will close on 14th April at 5 P.M
The aspirants are mandated to complete their campaign by the 18th April at 9 A.M and thereafter 48 hours of ‘No Campaign Period’ will be observed until the poll day. Candidates and the social media users alike are not allowed to campaign online during these 48 hours.
The ECB stated that all employers are required by law to grant required number of days as election leave for any voter wishing to go to vote in person.
