In Kachin State the Election Sub-Commission has disqualified two candidates from running on the grounds that they did not meet the criteria laid down by the election law.

The candidates are: one from the United Nationalities Democracy Party (UNDP) who was slated to run for the position of  Bamar Ethinc Affairs Minister, and in second case: an independent candidate who will run for the Sawlaw Constituency . 

In the first case the would-be candidate originally comes from Yangon. but has lived in Mae Sot in Thailand, arriving by an illegal route and returning to Myanmar by the same route in 2016. He has been resident in Myanmar for the last 4 years. However U Tun Aung Khaing, the Deputy Director of Kachin State Election Sub-Commission,ruled that the law requires a candidate to have been resident in Myanmar for ten consecutive years, and therefore  he was rejected..

In the second case the independent candidate is an in-service mililatry personnel. The commission rejected him as he submitted his name without resignation. According to the  

Election Law, the in-service civil servent is not allowed to run for the seat, he contitnued.

Both candidates can lodge an appeal to the commission for the rejection.

According to Section 8 (a) (ii) of the relevant Election Law, a person who has resided in the Union of Myanmar at least ten consecutive years up to the time of his election as Hluttaw representative, shall be eligible to stand for election. Section 10 (k) of the Election Law said: “Civil services personnel shall not be eligible to stand for election.

A total of 452 candidates have registered to contest the upcoming election in Kachin State—119 for lower house, 87 for upper house and 246 for Kachin State parliament.