Voting for Nepal's local elections ends; 65 per cent turnout

Around 65 per cent of voters cast their ballot in Nepal's local level elections held across the Himalayan nation on Friday, the election commission said.

Voting at all 753 units across Nepal ended in the local level elections that began at 7:00 am on Friday.

Spokesperson of the Election Commission Shaligram Sharma said the expected total turnout will be at least 65 per cent.

The voting was largely peaceful at the 21,955 polling centres except for one incident of violence, he said.

The counting of votes will start on Friday night and some results are expected on Saturday morning.

The voting started at 7 AM on Friday and ended at 5 PM. In majority seats, the contest is between candidates of the ruling-five-party alliance, led by Nepali Congress, and main the main Opposition CPN-UML.

''The enthusiasm shown by the Nepali people during the voting further proved the faith Nepali people have in democracy,'' said Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Meanwhile, a man was killed while another sustained injuries when the police opened blank fire to disperse an irate mob involved in a dispute after the completion of voting at Sorung Chhabise area in Katari Municipality of Udaypur district.

According to the Police, the deceased was a 19-year-old man.

The voters will elect a total of 35,221 representatives, including mayors/chiefs and deputy mayors/deputy chiefs, ward chairs, and members under various categories through the election taking place for the second time since the country switched to a federal set-up.

It may be noted that 390 candidates have already been elected unopposed in the elections.

A total of 17,733,723 voters are eligible to cast their vote to choose a total of 35,221 representatives at local levels.

A total of 109,088 employees have been mobilised in the election while the number of volunteers is 65,865 and as many as 5,000 observers.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)