Kathmandu, March 5: The long-awaited voting for the election of members of the House of Representatives was completed peacefully, despite some minor incidents in some places, across the country today.
According to the schedule set by the Election Commission, voting began at 7:00 a.m. and concluded at 5:00 p.m. Election Commissioner Dr. Janaki Kumari Tuladhar stated that although the voting time officially ended at 5:00 p.m., voters who were already in line at polling stations by that time would still be allowed to cast their votes.
According to the Commission, no polling center has so far been officially declared suspended. Disputes that arose for a short period in Dolakha, Sarlahi, and Rautahat were resolved. Voting had briefly been halted at the Malu polling station in Tamakoshi–4, Dolakha, but voting is currently continuing there after the suspension was lifted.
Under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system, 65 political parties are competing using 61 election symbols. A total of 3,406 candidates are contesting under the direct system, including 3,017 men, 388 women, and one candidate from the “other” category. Under the proportional representation system, 3,135 candidates are competing, including 1,363 men and 1,772 women. Elections have been held for 165 constituencies under the direct system and for 110 seats under the proportional representation system.
In this election, there are 18,903,689 voters in total, including 9,663,358 men, 9,240,131 women, and 200 voters in the “other” category. Additionally, 186,142 temporary voters have been registered for the election.
For the election, 23,112 polling centers were established at 10,967 polling locations across the country. A total of 143 temporary polling stations were also designated. Arrangements were made to give priority to senior citizens, persons with disabilities, the physically weak, and pregnant women to facilitate easier voting.
For election security, 79,727 personnel from the Nepal Army, 75,797 from Nepal Police, 34,567 from the Armed Police Force, 1,921 from the National Investigation Department, and 149,090 election police personnel were deployed.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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