Bara, May 8

A team of security department chiefs at the district have started monitoring voting centres of the second phase of the civic polls in Bara.

The security chiefs, in coordination with the Office of the Chief Election Officer, visited 451 voting centres to take stock of their security situation for the second phase of local level elections slated for June 14.

SP Kumar Neupane of Armed Police Force Border Security Office, Bara, said they have begun gathering information about possible security challenges at the centres.

Bara is considered a very sensitive district, as it shares its border with India and is known to be the centre of protest of Madhes-centric parties. SP Neupane said that there would be no problems now that the Madhes-centric parties are participating in the civic polls.

Chief Election Officer Ritendra Thapa informed that they will also assess possible locations to establish local level offices in the district. Thapa said he had not been able to join the team because of health reasons, and would take the monitoring report from the team.

The team, led by Chief District Officer Bijaya Narayan Manandhar, comprises SP Neupane, SP Narendra Uprety of District Police Office, Chief of Nepali Army Santosh Karki, and Deputy Investigation Director Uttam Khanal of National Investigation Department.

The team said that they have monitored the voting centres in Kalaiya Sub-metropolis and its vicinity. It added that the inspection of voting centres in the district will be completed within a week.

As many as 333,678 voters will cast their votes from 451 centres in Bara. The district has two sub-metropolitan cities, four municipalities, and nine rural municipalities.