Voters in Damjee
Gasa, the country’s largest and the least populated dzongkhag struggled, until the 11th hour, to produce a candidate to contest for a seat in the National Council.
Yet, one in three Gasaps, who cast their votes on January 29, pressed ‘no’ to the sole candidature of Sangay Khandu as their councillor. Of the 972 votes cast in Gasa’s extremely cold and wet weather across 11 polling stations, 336 did not approve of Sangay Khandu’s candidature. The number of ‘no’ votes outdid the ‘yes’ at the polling stations in Dompangchhung, Jasukha, and one station in Laya.
It is the highest percentage of ‘no’ votes of the three dzongkhags that had single candidates standing for a seat to the National Council.
But the 29-year-old is the National Council elect of Gasa, as 626 Gasaps or 65 percent approved of his candidature as their councillor. Whether a majority of the votes came from the women is not clear. But they have certainly been saying that although the dzongkhag didn’t have a candidate for a while the one who finally turned up was a good looking one.
