Voting Begins for House of Representatives Election Across Nepal

Kathmandu. Voting has begun on Thursday for the election of the House of Representatives. Elections are being held for 275 seats in the House of Representatives. Of these, 165 seats will be decided through the first-past-the-post system and 110 seats through the proportional representation system.

The interim government led by Sushila Karki, formed after the Janji protests, has implemented a unified security plan, ensuring tight security arrangements for the election. As voting commenced, integrated forces from all four security agencies were deployed at every polling station and sensitive location.

Approximately 334,000 security personnel have been mobilized for election security. According to the integrated security plan passed by the Central Security Committee, 79,000 army personnel are deployed in the field for election security. 73,000 police officers are engaged in election security. The Armed Police Force has mobilized 31,000 personnel. 1,800 personnel from the National Investigation Department have been deployed in the field for intelligence gathering. Anand Kafle, spokesperson (Joint Secretary) for the Ministry of Home Affairs, stated, 'About 350,000 security personnel are in the field today.'

The police have mobilized 133,980 election police, and the Armed Police Force has mobilized 15,110 election police personnel.

Nepal's intelligence agency (National Investigation Department) has been tasked with gathering intelligence for the House of Representatives election.

Under the integrated security plan, the police are deployed in the first cordon, Armed Police Force personnel in the second cordon, and the army in the third cordon for election security. This integrated force plan has been implemented to secure polling stations and voting centers.