Nepal EC says over 2 lakh staff, 3 lakh security personnel engaged for March 5 election

Nepals Election Commission on Sunday announced that over 2,13,000 staff and more than 3,30,000 security personnel will be engaged for smooth conduct of the general elections on March 5. Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Election Commission EC, said three tiers of election security were being arranged under the coordination of the Nepal Army for conducting the election in a free and fearless manner.

Nepal's Election Commission on Sunday announced that over 2,13,000 staff and more than 3,30,000 security personnel will be engaged for smooth conduct of the general elections on March 5. Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Election Commission (EC), said three tiers of election security were being arranged under the coordination of the Nepal Army for conducting the election in a free and fearless manner. Besides more than 80,000 Nepal Army personnel, the government will deploy Armed Police Force and Nepal Police personnel, including around 100,000 temporary election police, on the day. Nepal Army will also deploy four helicopters for air patrolling on the polling day. The EC is engaged in full swing preparations for conducting the election through around 10,500 polling stations and 23,112 polling booths. ''The election environment is encouraging and we have mobilised all the necessary mechanisms to conduct the election on time in an impartial manner,'' Bhattarai said during a weekly press briefing to media persons in Kathmandu on Sunday. The EC is printing ballot papers for the upcoming election on a war-footing, according to Bhattarai. Printing of almost all the ballot papers has been completed for the proportionate voting system, while one third of the ballot papers have been printed under the direct voting system, he said. ''We have received indications that the international community believes that the election will be conducted in a free and fair manner,'' he said. ''The Kathmandu-based diplomatic missions and the chiefs of various agencies under the United Nations have been informed about the preparations made for the upcoming elections through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,'' he said. The EC is currently engaged in spreading election awareness to all the voters across Nepal through various social media platforms, he added. ''We are also strictly monitoring the implementation of election code of conduct and assistant chief district officers in all 77 districts across the country have been nominated as election code monitoring officers,'' Bhattarai said. The EC on Friday allotted political parties 15 days to campaign starting from February 16. Political parties are allowed to campaign from February 16 to March 2, according to Suman Ghimire, deputy spokesperson at the Election Commission. Nepal's around 18.9 million eligible voters will exercise their voting rights on March 5, to elect 165 House of Representative members through direct voting (first past the post) system and 110 members through proportionate voting. The Lower House of Parliament has in total 275 lawmakers. There are altogether 18,903,689 eligible voters for the March election, including 915,119 newly registered voters as compared to the last parliamentary election in 2022. While there are around 3,400 candidates under the direct voting system, 3,200 are under the proportionate system seeking to get elected during the upcoming general election. The general elections were necessitated after deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli resigned on September 9, following violent protests by the youth-led Gen Z group against his government over corruption and a ban on social media. Sushila Karki, 73, became the interim prime minister on September 12 and on her recommendation, the president dissolved the House of Representatives and announced the election date.

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