Gandaki Province Deploys Over 21,000 Personnel for Upcoming Federal Elections

Pokhara. Gandaki Province is ready for the upcoming House of Representatives elections. Voting will take place from 2,396 polling stations across the province. Nearly 21,000 personnel have been mobilized to conduct these elections.

The Provincial Election Office stated that a total of 21,415 personnel have been deployed across the province to ensure the elections are conducted in a clean, impartial, and orderly manner. This includes 14,350 employees and 7,065 volunteers.

According to Provincial Election Officer Narayan Dhakal, the Chief Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, and other staff have collected ballot papers and election materials and have reached their respective polling stations. It is anticipated that snowfall could cause problems, especially in the village of Sangta in Baragung Muktinath Rural Municipality, Mustang, and in the villages of Nar and Phu in Narphu Rural Municipality, Manang.

However, due to an improvement in the weather, roads have been cleared, and voting is set to proceed at the designated locations. Staff assigned to those areas are currently en route. Arrangements for necessary medicines and health supplies have also been made for staff deployed to polling stations located above 3,000 meters in Gorkha, Myagdi, Mustang, and Manang, due to the risk of altitude sickness.

A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place to protect the polling stations and staff. According to Kaski Chief District Officer Rudradevi Sharma, depending on the sensitivity of the polling station, a minimum of 8 to 30 Nepal Police personnel will be deployed in the inner cordon. The Armed Police Force will secure the outer cordon, and the Nepali Army will provide security in the outermost cordon.

This time, Gandaki Province has designated 1,297 polling sites and 2,396 polling stations, where 1,870,065 voters will exercise their right to vote. Additionally, there are 21,693 temporary voters in the province. For this purpose, 17 temporary polling stations have been established across the province. A total of 234 candidates, including 30 independents, are in the electoral race across 18 constituencies in the province's 11 districts.