The Bhutanese Leading the way.
One of DPT’s brightest political stars, MP Kinga Tshering of the North-Thimphu constituency has stated his intent to resign from his post as a sitting DPT MP in the Parliament.
Though both the Speaker and Opposition Leader declined to comment on the issue, political circles in Thimphu including some social media outlets were already abuzz with discussions on the possible resignation of the MP.
The Bhutanese has learnt from a credible source that a resignation letter was in fact recently sent by the MP to both the National Assembly and the Opposition Party officially.
While enquiring with some associates of the MP it was learnt that the MP is currently on leave in Harvard University for some short term course.
It has also been learnt that the MP’s main reason for resignation is to continue his studies in Harvard University where the MP recently applied for and received an attractive program from the prestigious American University.
The Opposition party, meanwhile, is still trying to convince the MP to reverse his decision though according to one of the MP’s associates, it looks unlikely that he would change his mind on the matter.
DPT will face its biggest political blow since the resignation of its former President and former Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley in 2013 if the resignation of the MP comes through.
This is because Kinga Tshering was one of the ministerial candidates of DPT for the 2013 elections and is also one of the brightest and most capable among its MPs. With many former ministers and older candidates retiring due to age in 2018 the young MP was seen as one of the key future leaders of DPT.
A combination of his corporate management background, strong research skills, grasp of economic issues and also adept political talent made him one of the key MPs on which the party relied for a fair share of its brainpower. He was also a vocal force in the Parliament not letting any opportunity go by and even cornering the government on the smallest details.
More importantly the resignation of such a senior and prominent figure of the party would affect the morale of other MPs and party workers thus having an impact in the 2018 polls.
Much before his resignation letter there were some already some rumblings of the MP not being very happy in DPT.
The MP will face very little legal problems in resigning from his post if he does not change his stand.
The National Assembly Act which was amended in 2014 under section 18 titled ‘Resignation’ says, “A member may, by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Speaker, if the House is in session, or the Secretary General if the house is not in session, resign his or her seat therein, and upon the acceptance of such resignation by the Speaker, the seat of that member shall become vacant.”
Once the resignation of the MP is accepted by the Speaker then within a month the Supreme Court has to issue a writ to the Election Commission of Bhutan to hold bye-elections in the vacant constituency.
MP Kinga Tshering prior to entering politics was the CEO of DHI-Infra that looked after DHI’s ambitious infrastructure projects and prior to that he was the CEO of the Bank of Bhutan. He replaced the former Foreign Minister Ugyen Tshering in the North-Thimphu constituency. Even though there was a wave against DPT in 2013 the MP won the seat against his rival.
