Biratnagar, July 2

Vote counting in Biratnagar Metropolitan City is moving at a snail’s pace, thanks to negligence on the part of Office of the Chief Returning Officer.

Of the total 80,477 votes cast, only 14,000 votes were counted till today evening. The counting had started on Thursday.

If counting continues at the same pace, it will take two weeks to be completed. Party cadres and supporters are pressing the Election Commission to speed up the counting.

Chief Returning Officer Binod Pokhrel said that arrangement had been made to count votes from seven places.

Pokhrel said that preparation was on to add three more counting venues to accelerate the counting. “We are working to add more counting venues as it has been taking a long time to count votes,” Pokhrel added.

Vote counting of Wards No 1,2,3,4,16,17 and 18 is underway. However, the full result of neither ward has yet come.

NC mayoral candidate Bhim Parajuli said that counting was sluggish due to weakness on the part of the Chief Returning Officer. The sluggish counting process has irked party cadres and supporters.