Ballot Boxes from Remote Rukum East Polling Stations Transported by Army Helicopter

Rukum East. Due to the geographical remoteness of Rukum East, ballot boxes from three polling stations far from road network access were brought to the Election Officer's Office using a Nepal Army helicopter. As it would take nearly a day to reach the district headquarters on foot, the Election Commission airlifted the ballot boxes from the Pakhapani polling station in Sisne Rural Municipality-1, along with those from the Himal Basic School in Pelma and the Hardibang polling station in Putha Uttarganga Rural Municipality-2, to the district headquarters Rukumkot.

The process of collecting ballot boxes from other accessible polling stations in the district is also proceeding rapidly. According to Assistant Election Officer and Information Officer Ishwariprasad Subedi, the target is to collect the ballot boxes from all 56 polling stations across the district by midnight. After the ballot boxes are collected, the Election Office plans to convene an all-party meeting on Friday morning to move forward with the vote counting process.

The Office of the Chief Election Officer stated that it will take some more time to get the final tally of votes cast across the district as communication links are severed in some areas of Rukum East, which has a total of 34,772 voters. The electoral competition in Rukum East this time appears very interesting, with 11 candidates in the fray, including the coordinator of the Communist Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.