HUMLA, SEPTEMBER 20

The Election Commission has decided to establish a voting centre at Maspur of Tajakot Rural Municipality in Humla. The voting centre will be established in Banadev Basic Level School for the upcoming elections.

Locals at Maspur were compelled to spend three days to cast the ballot in earlier elections. Information Officer Surya Prasad Aryal at the commission said that the decision to set up a voting centre at Maspur was taken after a news story was published in The Himalayan Times.

There are 50 voters in Maspur. This is the least number of voters for a voting centre in the country.

Eighty-two-year-old Aause Rokaya could not cast vote since the first constitution assembly election following the same. He said he did not cast vote as the voting centre was far away from his house. He added that he was excited to vote from the nearby voting centre.

A non-gazetted officer Shyam Bahadur Rana of District Election Office, Humla, said that the locals at the village would cast vote in the upcoming federal and provincial elections from the newly-established voting centre.

Local Tek Bahadur Rokaya said nobody had paid attention to establish the voting centre in the remote area, earlier. Another local Kesh Bahadur Rokaya said many voters did not participate in the election due to lack of a voting centre in the nearby area.

There are 23 households in Maspur. The total population of the village is 103.

According to District Election Office, Humla, 50 people have voter identity card.

Of them, ten people are above 60 years. Most of the people in the village are yet to get the voter ID. Tek Bahadur said the ID card was meaningless as the voting centre was away from their house. He said villagers were motivated to make the voter ID card after the new voting centre was set up.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 20, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.