Lumang gewog, Trashigang, waited patiently for the election officials

Dressed in their best attire, villagers in Chhengri under Lumang gewog, Trashigang, waited patiently for the election officials to begin the zomdu.

The chiwog’s school dining hall filled with the buzz of people greeting and chatting with each other. Cold wind seeped in from the wall made of mud and bamboo.

A couple of minutes later, the dzongkhag electoral officer started the session, but quickly introduced the chiwog’s lone gup contestant. The gathering, however, already knew the candidate and went on to unanimously nominate him as the gup candidate from their chiwog.

While the chiwog failed to produce any mangmi candidate, the lone tshogpa candidate was also endorsed without a hitch. The candidate was required to produce a signature support from five different households.

The zomdu was short and election team swiftly moved to the next chiwog, Doongmanma. There the process went on for at least three hours.

A male and a female gup aspirant were asked to introduce themselves. Both appeared hesitant and claimed not to know what to say. Both, however, promised to bring in development activities and serve people well.

The people were then asked to vote at the electronic voting machine placed neatly at the side. Some immediately took out their citizenship identity card from their pocket. A few had neatly wrapped it in a plastic. A handful, having forgotten to bring it along, rushed home to pick up the card.

Soon the result was declared and the female candidate was elected to contest from the chiwog. However, the villagers insisted the defeated candidate should contest for the mangmi post.

With another candidate already vying for the mangmi post, another round of voting was held to select a mangmi candidate. The candidate was once again defeated.

The chiwog, facing a dearth of tshogpa contestants, insisted the defeated candidate to stand as tshogpa.

“If we need to develop our chiwog, we need a tshogpa,” said one. Another said he need not do much walking, since the chiwog was now connected with mobile connection. The room filled with murmurs as others agreed to his nomination. It was long before the candidate reluctantly agreed to contest for tshogpa.

The election team, after lunch, moved on to Kharphoog Kurchhilo, where excited villagers promptly nominated a gup, mangmi and four tshogpas, including a woman.

On their way to Wamrong, where they will halt for the night, the election team received a phone call from the Doongmanma tshogpa candidate informing he was tendering a resignation since he didn’t feel comfortable enough to take up the post.

Source: Kuenselonline