KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 20
Tourists were left perplexed at the sight of heavy presence of security personnel at polling stations, considering that the polls are being held in relatively peaceful times.
One such group of tourists, namely Shaun Grabben and Lorah Mennel from Ireland, and Chloe and Izzy from England, wondered why security personnel had been deployed at polling centres in Patan Durbar Square in such large numbers. Izzy asked THT, "Are rebels still active in Nepal?"
Their curiosity is not misplaced, considering that 75,000 Nepali Army personnel have been deployed in the outer ring for the November 20 polls. More than two lakh have been deployed in the inner security rings, according to the Home Ministry sources. During the local level polls held on May 13, 168,000 security personnel from all four security agencies in the country were mobilised to ensure security.
Chloe and Izzy were surprised that Nepal has no system of postal votes. Chloe said, "Postal voting should be implemented in Nepal as those hospitalised can also exercise their voting right." Izzy said, "Postal ballots can help elderly people, patients in hospitals, and those having mobility issue exercise theirright to franchise.
"In England everyone can exercise their voting right due to postal voting system."
Tirtha Maharjan, a member of the NC, said that at a Lalitpur polling centre 3,414 voters had registered to vote, but only 2,500 votes were cast. Isha Bajagain and Sujata Ghimire from ward No 1 of Imadol said though they had to vote on four ballot papers, the process was not time-consuming.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 21, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
