Biratnagar, December 11

The number of invalid votes in the recent provincial and parliamentary elections has dropped sharply compared to the number of invalid votes in the local level polls conducted earlier in Morang.

According to Regional Election Office, Biratnagar, 21 per cent votes were invalid in the local level polls but the percentage came down to five in the recent provincial and parliamentary elections in the district. Of the 644,782 voters, a total of 465,034 voters cast their ballots which is 72.25 per cent voter turnout in the district. Of the total votes, 24,644 were found invalid, which makes 5.29 per cent.

“The election office had to face harsh criticism for not implementing voter education programme effectively after 21 per cent votes were found invalid in the local level polls. In some wards, around 68 per cent votes were invalid. However, the situation improved this time,” said Regional Election Office Morang Chief Prem Prasad Sanjel. “As many as 758 volunteers were deployed for voter education programme. Mayors, rural municipality chairpersons and ward chairpersons were instructed to monitor the effectiveness of voter education programmes conducted in the concerned areas,” added Sanjel.

Constituency No 5 of the district recorded 6.39 per cent invalid votes, the highest per cent in the district, while the lowest percentage of invalid votes, i.e. 4.39, was found in Constituency No 1. Likewise, 5.56, 4.54, 5.1 and 5.38 per cent votes were invalid in constituencies 2, 3, 4 and 6 respectively.

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