Robust Election Security

Security component always comes in our mind when elections arrive. Just as elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance, sound security arrangements play an important role in ensuring an environment for free, fair and fearless voting. If security aspect is challenging, it poses obstacles in conducting elections as well. There is an encouraging and enthusiastic atmosphere for this election as seen in the filing of nominations of the candidates. Unlike in the past, there are no threats of disruption from so-called armed outfits and those boycotting the election. The cooperation among the contesting political parties is crucial in holding the polls in a fair manner. They require contesting election with a sense of healthy competition without being involved in violence and disruption.   

Local elections, held on May 13 this year, were largely peaceful and fair, which is a testimony of the fact that the parties are cooperating with each other for this crucial democratic exercise. This shows that the nation is headed for the institutionalisation of democracy and implementation of the constitution. But the fairness of the voting makes a lot of difference because the spirit of this democratic exercise will remain unmet if the voters are denied the opportunity to cast their ballot in a fearless manner. Use of money and muscle to manipulate voting will only create disenchantment about the system the nation has embraced.

In this regard, the government has directed the security agencies to make robust security arrangements for the election. As per the security plan, around 300,000 personnel from Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, Nepali Army and the temporary police force will be mobilised for election security. The army personnel will act as back-up force and will be patrolling the security sensitive areas. As envisaged by the Integrated Security Plan-2079, the government has already instructed the District Administration Offices to analyse and take stock of security situation and possible threats. According to the security plan, at least eight to 11 security personnel will be deployed at each polling station based on security sensitivity. There will be a minimum of eight security personnel in general polling stations, and at least nine in sensitive polling stations and at least 11 to 15 personnel deployed in highly sensitive stations. Teams of the temporary (Myadi) police and Nepal Police will be in the inner core of the security layer. 

The country is holding the elections for the second time since the adoption of the new constitution in 2015. Learning lessons from the May 13 local elections, the security officials say they see no major threats but say that they are all aware of possibility of looting ballot boxes and minor scuffle within the polling stations by the groups that have protested and boycotted election. As the election is happening in a single phase across the country, there is, however, a challenge to the security bodies themselves to manage essential and required number of security forces. For this reason, the government has hired 115,000 temporary policemen. In addition, the government plans to deploy over 7,000 intelligence personnel from the National Investigation Department. The Election Commission Nepal (ECN) has designated a total of 10,888 polling stations and 22,226 polling centres for 17,988,570 voters this year. The security of every voter up to their polling stations in addition to the ballot boxes, ballot papers and polling staff will also be an important security issue. The security personnel can work effectively if they are cooperated by the general public, voters, political party workers and volunteers.