Withdrawal of fuel subsidy becomes major poll issue in Bhutan

Thimphu: The withdrawal of subsidy on kerosene and cooking gas by India seems to have become a major poll issue in the second national elections in Bhutan. The polling is slated to be held on Saturday.

Word that India is contemplating withdrawing the excise duty refund in addition to the subsidy cut also “got the electorate worried”.”It is once again about the state of Indo-Bhutan relations, which has been politicized to such an extent, no one would have ever guessed it would be that way,” the editorial in the daily said.

The duty refund procedure is governed by the Bhutan-India free trade agreement, which was renewed in 2006 and is up for renewal bin 2016.

According to the agreement, both governments agreed to provide appropriate refund to be mutually decided annually in respect of excise duties on goods of its origin exported to the other.

For goods brought from open market, the refund is to be calculated on the total value of goods, downsized by 40 percent. There are 94 candidates for 47 constituencies. There are 3,81,790 registered voters and 80,000 postal voters. The number of female voters is 187,917.