One is to one in Lhuentse

The battle for seats ended in a one-each for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) in the Lhuentse constituencies.

DPT secured a win in Gangzur-Minjay, and PDP won in the Menbi-Tsenkhar constituency.

The trickling hours of apprehension weighed on DPT’s Karma Rangdol as he lost out to his much younger counter part when he secured only 528 votes against PDP’s Lobzang Dorji’s 581.

However, as the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes accumulated to a total of 2,306 votes against Lobzang Dorji’s 1,606 votes in EVM, saw Karma Rangdol a clear win.

The 25-year-old PDP candidate Lobzang Dorji gracefully conceded to a much senior 60-year-old DPT candidate Karma Rangdol.

“I am fine and okay with the results, but I am not sure about re-contesting in 2018,” he said.

“I was confident, but at the last moment the result was a game change for me,” added Lobsang Dorji.

The fate of votes, however, did not turn in DPT’s favor as its other candidate from the Menbi–Tsenkhar constituency Tshering Tenzin lost to Yeshey Dorji of PDP by 388 votes.

Yeshey Dorji secured 760 votes through postal ballots and 1,512 in EVM while his opponent got 1,445 votes through EVM and 439 of postal ballots.

Talking to this paper, Yeshey Dorji said all he wants to do now is distress and relax.

“I was confident that I will win and people have put their trust and confidence in me, and now the burden of serving them is heavy on me. Hard work has finally paid off,” he added.

Adding to it, he said he would first call up the PDP Tshogpas to calm down and congratulate them.

Many voters, The Bhutanese talked to said that they wanted change and their votes more than backed their statements.

Yeshi Wangmo, 31, from Tsenkhar gewog said that she voted for the candidate, from whom she expected change for the country and also for the dzongkhag.

Speaking on the same lines, Yangdon from the same village said that she too voted for the PDP candidate, with hope that he might do something new for the development of the gewog.

The majority of voter opinions in the constituency do not differ much.

Lhuentse has a total of 14,389 eligible voters and this time the voter turnout was more inclusive of female voters compared to the males.

The two DPT candidates could not be contacted for their views.