An aspiring political party found, Chheku Dukpa, also known as Jackson Drukpa, had withdrawn his petition to the Supreme Court on August 21.

Just before the day of the hearing at the Supreme Court, the Druk Gaki Tshogpa founder requested the court to allow him to withdraw the appeal against the High Court’s judgment.

Chheku Dukpa had petitioned to the High Court seeking justifications for disqualification by the Election Commission of Bhutan.

The party applied for registration to ECB on February 9 and the commission denied registration for the party on March 15.

The commission had stated number reasons for the disqualification in a public notification.

One of the reasons for ECB not registering the party was that it did not have members in two constituencies. Of the 308 registered members, ECB found irregularities in 29 cases with names not in the electoral roll, names of religious personalities, mismatch of names and constituency mistake.    

There were no potential candidates for half of the 47 constituencies, the ECB notification stated.

The court also found that the DGT has not submitted the Political Party Form No 2 with details of members, their fees and voluntary contributions, as required by the rules. Chheku Dukpa had not used the form and had submitted the list of members in a separate sheet.

The High Court’s larger bench ruled that the aspiring political party, Druk Gaki Tshogpa (DGT) has not met two criteria as per the electoral laws and rules and cannot be registered as a political party.

Staff Reporter