KATHMANDU: The Election Commission has said that all the preparations for the second phase of local level elections has been completed in 334 local levels of 35 districts in Province numbers 1, 5 and 7.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Media Centre of EC, the Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav also asked the citizens to cast their ballot in fear free manner.

"The senior citizens, pregnant ladies, people with disabilities and unwell persons can take the help of Returning Officers to cast their votes. They can also take help from their family members to cast their ballot with permission from the Election officials," said CEC Yadav.

He further asked the political parties and candidates to follow the Election Code of Conduct."Those who violate the regulations will be punished."

"Voters who have lost , damaged or failed to obtain their voter identity card can also exercise their franchise showing the citizenship certificate, driving license, passports, or any other identity card issued by the Nepal government," he added.

Yadav also thanked all the government agencies, stakeholders, political parties, candidates, international communities for contributing positively for the second round of local polls.

There are a total of 6,432, 765 voters in 34 districts of Province number 1,5 and 7 with 8364 voting centres.

The Commission has also prepared voter education related materials in 16 different local languages for the voters’ convenience to increase their participation in the second round of civic polls.

Meanwhile, local level polls in eight districts of Province number 2 – Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat , Bara and Parsa – have been postponed for September 18 after a mutual consent between Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.

The government had successfully concluded the first phase of local level elections in 35 districts of Province number 3, 4 and 6 on May 14.