KATHMANDU/DAMAULI/ SARLAHI, MAY 14
The number of polling centres where voting was halted owing to various reasons in local level elections has reached 79, according to the Election Commission. The local level election was held across the country yesterday.
Voting was postponed in 28 municipalities of 16 districts as of 10:00pm tonight, as per the information received by the EC through election officers.
Disputes and subsequent clashes led to deferral of voting in districts such as Jumla, Saptari, Kavrepalanchowk, Rautahat, Ramechhap, Bara, Bajura and Parbat, among others.
According to the commission, the number of such centres might be slightly more or less since discussions on whether to count votes or conduct re-voting in the polling centres are still on among the concerned parties.
Meanwhile, reelections has been already announced at some voting centres Reelection is scheduled to take place in two voting centres of Vyas Municipality-8 in Tanahun.
The Election Commission took a decision to hold reelection there by cancelling the voting conducted yesterday.
Chief Returning Officer of Tanahun Harish Chandra Dhungana said reelection would take place on May 18 in the two voting centres of Ward No 8 in Vyas Municipality.
Likewise, counting of votes will begin only after completing the voting there in the two centres.
The issue of fairness in the polls was raised after independent candidate Dipak Raj Joshi was thrashed in Phedi voting centre.
Injured Joshi is receiving treatment in Frontline Hospital, Kathmandu.
Reelection date has also been announced in Barahathawa Municipality-17 in Sarlahi district as yesterday's was cancelled, the District Election Office said.
Various political parties and independent candidates, including the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, accused the Janata Samajwadi Party of preventing voters from others parties to vote, resulting in an election disruption, according to the office.
JSP's candidate Ram Bishwas Raya and his supporters have been accused of beating Birendra Raya of the CPN-Maoist Centre.
As a result, the election was halted midway, said District Election Officer Diwakar Bhujel. An all-party meeting will fix date for the reelection, he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
