Securing the highest votes from three gewogs of Dechenling, Norbugang and Choekhorling in Nganglam drungkhag helped Choining Dorji win the National Council seat from Pemagatshel.

Choining Dorji secured 2,127 EVM from the polling stations in Nganglam, 131 votes from the polling stations in Khar-Yurung and 82 votes from the polling stations in Nanong-Shumar.

Dechenling gewog in Nganglam drungkhag has the second highest eligible voters registered after Shumar gewog in the dzongkhag.

Pemagatshel had five NC candidates from Nanong, Shumar, Dechenling, Khar and Yurung gewogs each.

Choining Dorji said he is happy that the people chose him as their NC representative. “This is a big responsibility and I will work hard to fulfill all my commitments and the interest of the people of Pemagatshel, “ he said.

The NC elect has worked with the High Court, Royal Civil Commission, Anti-corruption Commission, DHI-INFRA and CDCL.

According to observers, the voters knew that Choining Dorji would be elected because he was the lone candidate from the three gewogs in Nganglam drungkhag and had an advantage of securing more votes.

“The chances to win was high for the candidate from Nanong-Shumar,” he said. “But there were two candidates and the votes got divided.”

Pemagatshel received 5,876 postal ballots, of which 291 were rejected. Choining Dorji secured 1,506 postal ballots, the highest among the four candidates. Of the 7,147 voters who voted at the polling stations, he secured 2,340, again the highest.

Atotal of 366 polling officials and 180 security personnel were deployed to 60 polling stations in Pemagatshel. The dzongkhag administration had arranged transportation to ferry the officials to their stations.

The returning officer (RO), Tshongtu, said Pemagatshel had 60 polling stations. He said that polling officials and security personnel were dispatched on April 17 since some of the stations were far and did not have road access.“Woongborang in Dungmin gewog was a challenging polling station, as the team had to walk for about four hours from the nearest road point,” he said.

Of the 25,619 eligible voters registered in the dzongkhag, 12,732 voted on April 20. The voter turnout was about 48 percent.

Kelzang Wangchuk | Pemagatshel

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