Tibetans in Dharamsala vote to elect new Settlement Officer
DHARAMSALA, May 10: Tibetans living in Dharamsala today voted in the preliminary round of Dhramsala’s Tibetan Settlement Officer (TSO) election.
The preliminary round has the incumbent TSO, Kunga Tsering along with four other candidates Kunchok Migmar,(Sponsorship Sectary of TSO) Tashi Dorjee(from Mcleod), Sonam Phuntsok (from Norbulingka)and Thinlay Jampa(last election’s runner up) vying for the post.
The preliminary round screens the nominees down to two-three candidates for the final round which is on the 24th of May.
Tibetans living in the Dharamsala jurisdiction which extends up to Gopalpur voted from thirteen different polling stations today to choose their Settlement Officer.
Tibetans who have been paying voluntary contributions through the green book to Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) in Dharamshala for at least five years continuously in McLeod Ganj could vote in these elections.
It is estimated that nearly 9000 Tibetans have registered their green book at Dharamsala.
Though the charter of Tibetans in exile mandates elections to be conducted to appoint Tibetan settlement officers across Tibetan settlements in India, most of the settlement officers are directly appointed by the CTA as holding elections for all the TSOs is not feasible.
