The contest has assumed significance in view of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s announcement to relinquish the political leadership of the community.

A three-pronged contest between front-runner Dr Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard Law School scholar, Tenzin Namgyal, a Stanford teacher and Tashi Wangdi is on the anvil.

Meanwhile, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has refused to reconsider his decision of quitting as political head of the Tibetans, a day after the Tibetan parliament debated and then declined to accept his offer and asked him to reconsider his stand. The Dalai Lama said on Saturday he had no intention of backing down from his earlier decision.

Votes will also be cast for electing 44 new parliamentarians, out of the 64 candidates in the fray, who will constitute the 15th assembly, likely to be sworn later in April. As many as 83,000 registered voters will exercise their right to franchise on Sunday.