KATHMANDU, Sept 16: The Election Commission (EC) has said that almost all preparations for the third round of elections in the 136 local units of Province 2 have been completed.
After visiting the election constituencies, election commissioners said everything required for the polling has been taken care of except the distribution of voter ID cards and the setting up of the polling centers.
“Apart from setting up the polling centers and the distribution of voter IDs all the logistics for the elections are in place,” said Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav.
MoFAGA urges local units to provide buildings, physical structu...
CEC Yadav, who has now reached Gaur in Rautahat district in the course of inspecting poll preparations, said the issues related to the deployment of poll officers have now been resolved.
The election body has announced the distribution of voter IDs from Friday but voters in Bara and Parsa have been deprived of their cards in the absence of poll officers.
Apart from field inspections by the CEC, two other election commissioners-Narendra Dahal and Sudheer Kumar Shah -- had visited Rautahat and Sarlahi to inquire about the poll preparations.
The EC commissioners said infrastructures including roads and bridges destroyed in the flooding have been repaired and there was no problem with voter movements for the elections. They also claimed that no potential security challenge has been reported so far. “Everything is under control. Elections will happen in a free and fair manner,” said EC Commissioner Dahal.
Following the successful first and second rounds of elections in six of the provinces, the election body is conducting the polls in the seventh province on Monday.
Going against its original plan for conducting polls across the country in a single phase on May 14, the government decided to do it phase-wise following objections from the then agitating Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.
This time, RJPN has also agreed to participate in the elections. Winning the polls in Province 2 has become a matter of prestige for it.
The silence period for the polls is beginning from mid-night Friday. Both political parties and candidates should refrain poll publicity while the media should also stop running critical news reports for or against any party or candidate.
The final round of local elections will elect 6,627 local leaders.
