All Preparations Complete in Karnali Province for Thursday's Federal Elections

Surkhet. All preparations have been completed in Karnali for the House of Representatives elections to be held tomorrow, Thursday. The work, from constructing polling stations to deploying staff, is finished. So far, no disputes have arisen at the polling stations or vote counting centers.

'All polling materials have already reached their destinations,' Provincial Election Officer Lal Bahadur Gurung told Ratopati, 'The process of holding an all-party meeting is also complete, and no such disputes occurred anywhere.' He added that a group of election officers has been formed to address any need for essential materials at the polling stations.

'So far, nothing has come up from that group saying materials are needed or something is broken,' he added, 'We heard a latch was broken in one place, and we sent it there immediately.'

According to him, there were concerns about the challenges in sending polling materials to the mountainous districts. In Humla, Dolpa, and Mugu, among the three districts, everything has been dispatched by 10 AM. In the mountainous districts, every election activity this time is being carried out via helicopter.

On Wednesday, five staff members deployed to the Phadgaon polling station in Upper Dolpa fell ill. Two of them have been rescued by helicopter and are undergoing treatment in the district headquarters, Dunai. Work is underway to deploy additional manpower there.

According to him, 8,625 staff members have been deployed in Karnali to make the election successful. 'Everyone who needed to be deployed is in place, they are eager to conduct the election, the environment is good, and it is peaceful,' said Election Officer Gurung.

Karnali, which has 10 districts, has 12 House of Representatives constituencies. Surkhet and Dailekh have two each, and the remaining districts have one each. A total of 138 candidates are in the electoral competition in these constituencies.

This time, the electoral competition in Karnali is anticipated to be primarily among four political parties. The old parties, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), and the new political party Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) are in the electoral field, having fielded candidates in all constituencies.

For the election scheduled for Thursday, Karnali has a total voter population of 1,037,250, comprising 509,361 female voters and 527,886 male voters. Surkhet has 248,938 voters.

Dailekh has a total voter count of 161,204, while Salyan has a total of 162,449 voters. Dolpa has the lowest at 24,115, Mugu has a total of 36,031, Jumla has 71,739, Kalikot has 85,446, and Humla has 34,372 voters.

Likewise, Jajarkot has 107,091 voters, and Rukum West has 106,660 voters.

In this province, there were 1,006,834 voters in the 2079 elections, according to Provincial Election Officer Lal Bahadur Gurung, more than 26,000 voters were added through the re-registration campaign. With this, the total voter count in the province stands at 1,037,250.

'If we compare the voting percentage with '79, it was around 64 percent,' Gurung says, 'Since new voters have increased, we expect participation in voting to increase.' According to him, the turnout is estimated to be above 70 percent of the total voter population.

What is the security arrangement like?

Security arrangements have been significantly tightened for this election. 'Work is proceeding according to the Integrated Security Plan; there is no need to suspect or doubt anything,' added Election Officer Gurung. According to Ram Prakash Shah, Spokesperson for the Karnali Province Police Office and Senior Superintendent of Police, more than 15,000 police personnel and election police are deployed for security across the province, including 5,580 Nepal Police and 9,742 election police.

The Armed Police Force and the Nepali Army are also in the electoral field. The Nepali Army has taken charge of the security of airports and prisons in Karnali. The Army has taken responsibility for security in these areas as they are considered sensitive. Shah stated that the Army has taken charge of the security of six airports and nine prisons located in Surkhet, Rukum, Dolpa, Mugu, Jumla, and Humla districts in Karnali. 'The Army has taken over the duty,' he said.

Where are Karnali's 'Heavyweight' Leaders Casting Their Votes?

Some 'heavyweight' leaders from Karnali are out of the electoral field this time. Former Acting President of the Congress, Purna Bahadur Khadka, and leader Hridayaram Thani are not contesting the election this time. However, they have reached their home districts to cast their votes.

Khadka reached Surkhet only on Tuesday, and he stated that he would vote on Thursday morning at 7 AM at the Suryajyoti Secondary School booth center in Mehelkuna, which falls under Surkhet-1. Similarly, the Chief Minister of Karnali and CPN-UML Secretary Yamalal Kandel will vote at Bhairavsthan Secondary School in Birendranagar.

Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Jeevan Bahadur Shahi has also reached his home district of Humla, while former Chief Minister Rajkumar Sharma is in his home district of Rukum West. Janardan Sharma (Rukum West), Mahendra Bahadur Shahi (Kalikot), Shakti Basnet (Jajarkot), and others are in their home districts as they are candidates themselves.