Kathmandu, November 22

The Ministry of Home Affairs today said the government had made foolproof security arrangements to ensure that the first phase of parliamentary and provincial elections took place in a free, fair and fearless environment.

MoHA Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Sharma Duwadi said the government was carrying out pre-election security operations for robust security on the polling day on November 26. “We have mobilised security personnel for making arrangements for elections across the country. The government is committed to providing dependable security to election candidates, political leaders, voters and general public,” he said.

The MoHA also said that it was collecting intelligence about any untoward incident and taking preventive measures to ensure that no one faced security risk. Duwadi assured candidates, voters and general public that they had nothing to fear as reliable security arrangements were made keeping in mind the current situation.

According to the MoHA, it has carried out comprehensive security mapping of each polling centre and location to chalk out strategies on the basis of threat assessment by revising the previous security plan.

The government has classified polling stations into three categories — normal, sensitive and highly sensitive — and deployed over 2,67,000 security personnel, including temporary cops. Like in the local level polls, Nepal Police personnel and temporary cops will be deployed inside the polling centres, while Armed Police Force and

Nepali Army will man the second and the outermost ring, respectively as per the three-tier security

arrangement.

Arrangements of micro-observers and additional security forces have also been made for the polls. Security forces deployed for poll security have been authorised to open fire on any person or group resorting to violence. Helicopters will be used for aerial patrolling in sensitive and highly-sensitive areas, it said.

Meanwhile, security agencies have stepped up action against ‘anti-election forces’, including cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led party, in the wake of coordinated bomb blasts targeting election rallies and candidates. A police official said nearly 200 cadres affiliated to Chand-led party were arrested as part of security operations.