With 5,307 election officials deployed to the 865 polling stations, the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) is ready to conduct the general elections, according to the state of readiness report from the commission. Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) would contest the election. The officials on duty exclude the security personnel and ECB’s regular staff who are fully involved on election duty. The report states that of the 865 polling stations that would cater to the 47 constituencies, 674 polling stations would be staffed by a presiding officer and three polling officers besides the security personnel, while 191 polling stations that cater to less than 250 voters would be managed by three polling officials with a polling officer acting as the presiding officer.
It also stated that 141 are temporary polling stations set up in places where there is no appropriate public infrastructure.
ECB has also distributed 1,730 electronic voting machines (EVMs) to the polling stations after procuring 1,000 new EVMs to ensure smooth elections. All polling stations have been provided with a spare EVM for backup.
There are a total of 438,663 registered voters, 224,550 female and 214,113 male as of July 1 and 424 were added in the supplementary list.
Full Article: Bhutan returns to the poll – KuenselOnline.
