Trongsa’s Dzongkhag Election Dispute Settlement Body (DEDSB) has issued a warning to the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa’s (DNT) Nubi_Tangsibji constituency candidate Yeshey Penjor for violating election act.
Yeshey Penjor has been asked to abide by the election law and also imposed a fine of a minimum wage for 60 days.
The Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) lodged a complaint against the DNT candidate last week after a voice message by him mentioning DPT made the rounds on WeChat.
The DPT’s Nubi_Tangsibji candidate Nidup Zangpo submitted an MP3 of the WeChat message as evidence to the DEDSB.
“In the complaint letter, the DPT’s Nubi_Tangsibji candidate says the defendant’s message could affect his party. The DNT candidate talks about Bhutan’s sovereignty and relation with neighbouring India,” Needup, the Election Officer of Trongsa, said.
In the WeChat message, the DNT candidate had said India will not be happy if DPT comes to power and this would affect Bhutan. Therefore, he said it was important that DNT formed the next government.
The dispute settlement body ruled that what the DNT candidate had done is a breach of electoral laws.
The body warned and fined the DNT candidate as per Section 29 of the Election Dispute Settlement Rules and Regulation of Kingdom of Bhutan 2018.
The section states, “the commission, or the CEDSB or DEDSB may, if it finds there is reasonable ground to believe that a political party or candidate or representative of the political party or person has violated any provision of the electoral laws, rules and regulation, orders and any other notification of the commission for the first time, subject to rules 29.4 resort to: 29.1.2- Issue warning and impose a fine of minimum wage for 60 days to a candidate; 29.1.5- Take appropriate administrative action under the relevant laws and notification.”
The defendant has five days to appeal to the Central Election Dispute Settlement Body (CEDSB) if not satisfied with the decision of DEDSB.
