KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 2
The Election Commission has decided to review the election security plan to conduct elections to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies in a free, fair, and fearless environment.
Speaking at a press conference in Kathmandu today, Chief Election Officer Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the election panel was set to revise the security plan as may be required. "We will review the security plan and we are cautious to ensure that the poll process is not obstructed anywhere. The EC is serious about foolproof security arrangements," he said.
Earlier, the EC had taken stock of the security plan developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs along with security agencies. In a meeting at the EC, chiefs of security agencies, home secretary and defence secretary had apprised Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya and his team of the security plan.
The government has developed the security plan mobilising all four security bodies, in addition to temporary cops as part of robust security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident before, during, or after the elections.
The MoHA has said that around 300,000 personnel, including 115,000 temporary cops would be deployed to ensure that no citizen was deprived of their constitutional right to vote merely on the ground of security reasons.
Security personnel and temporary police will be deployed in line with the approved security plan.
Nepal Police personnel and temporary cops will be deployed inside the polling centres while APF and NA personnel will man the second and the outermost ring, respectively.
Nepal Police has been given the responsibility of first responder if any untoward incident takes place. In addition, there will be striking teams, bomb disposal squads and aerial patrol teams.
A MoHA source said security personnel would be mobilised in such a way that they could reach anywhere within 15 minutes to respond to the situation. Security arrangements will stay put until the victory rally of political parties following the announcement of final results. Security agencies will mainly focus on the security of voters, election candidates, political leaders, general public, election officials, warehouses of election logistics, polling stations, and ballot counting centres, among others.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 3, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
