Voter education campaign yet to begin in Banke

By Siraj Khan

Nepalgunj, Nov. 2: The elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies are being held in the next 19 days. 

However, the voter education programme has not yet begun in Banke district.

Candidates for the elections as well as voters expressed their concerns that lack of voter education would increase the risk of high rate of  invalid votes. 

“There are different kinds of ballot papers in every election. 

This is why the voters should be taught to vote properly. 

Since the voters have not received any education about the upcoming elections, they are in confusion,” said Akal Bahadur Bam, Lumbini Provincial Assembly candidate from the CPN (Maoist Centre) from Banke-2 constituency.

The candidates said that the number of invalid votes  would increase in  lack of voter education. 

It is the duty of the authorities to run the voter education programme to reduce the invalid votes and make the election results fair, they said. 

“If more votes get invalid in lack of voter education, people’s right to vote will go waste,” said Mohammad Istiyak Rai, Janata Samajwadi Party’s candidate from Banke-2 for the House of Representatives (HoR).

The voters also informed that they have not received any kind of voter education prorgamme for the upcoming elections yet. “I don’t even know how many ballot papers will be there, and what they represent. No one in my village is properly aware about it. I am totally confused,” said Rajesh Ahir, a voter from Duduwa, Banke.

Not only Rajesh, majority of voters across the district are confused as they have not been made aware about the voting process. 

The voters argued that the voter education programme for the Local Elections held in May, 2022, was also insufficient due to which many votes became invalid.

In the local election held in May this year, more than 16,000 votes of the mayoral post became invalid in Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City alone. A total of 34,000 votes cast for mayors and 47,000 votes cast for the deputy-mayors across the district were invalid in the local elections.

Similarly, 14,862 new voters were added in Banke-2 constituency this time. Likewise, 22,780 and 17,900 voters are new in Banke-1 and Banke-3 constituencies respectively.

“The new voters are more unaware about the voting process. 

They will face more difficulty to cast a vote properly if they do not receive proper education,” said Sudip Narsingh Rana, Nepali Congress candidate for HoR from Banke-2.

Meanwhile, Election Office, Banke, informed that they were planning to start education programme for the voters soon.

“All the materials for the programme have already arrived in the district from the Election Commission. The materials will be soon distributed across the local levels. The voter education will be provided through local health personnel,” said Rama Panta, chief at Banke’s Election Office.

There are a total of 332,231 voters across the district. They will be casting votes from three HoR constituencies and six provincial constituencies.