KATHMANDU, April 29: The Election Commission (EC) has directed all 753 local governments to mandatorily operate CCTV cameras at the vote counting venues.
There are a total of 10,756 polling stations and 21,955 voting booths for May 13's local level election to be held in a single phase.
The Commission has already sent a circular to all local governments through the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, asking them to use CCTV cameras at the vote counting places to ensure transparency.
Counting of votes to take place in these 10 places in Kathmandu
Furthermore, if there are any disputes over vote counting, the CCTV cameras' footage could be used to look into the matter since the CCTV footage will serve as the electronic archives, said EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel.
Spokesperson Poudel shared that some local governments inquired with the Commission if it was mandatory to operate CCTV cameras at the vote counting places which, Poudel argued, has raised questions on the credibility and fairness of the vote counting process in those local units.
The vote counting process had courted controversies in Bharatpur Metropolitan City in the last three-tier elections and a re-election had to held in some wards as well.
Furthermore, the sealed voter lists having photos have been sent to chief election officers and election officers.
The voters could see their names in the voter list on the EC’s website. There are a total of 17,733,723 voters enlisted in the voter list, according to EC.
