By-election today

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 23: The by-election of the member of House of Representatives (HoR) is taking place in three constituencies on Sunday. The by-poll is being held in Bara-2, Tanahun-1 and Chitwan-2.

Eligible voters from all three constituencies are exercising their franchise to elect members of HoR. Voting for the by-election will take place from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.

The Election Commission (EC) has announced a raft of measures to ensure the elections are conducted without any obstruction and in a free, fair, fearless and credible manner.

According to EC, there are a total of 194 polling stations and 427 polling centres in three constituencies where the by-elections are taking place.  

Of this, in Chitwan there are 138 polling centres in 43 polling stations, in Bara-2 137 polling centres 

in 82 polling stations and in Tanahun-1 there are 152 polling centres in 69 polling stations.

There are a total of 124,695 voters in Chitwan-2, 105,248 in Bara-2 and 123,305 in Tanahun-1, EC stated.

EC’s Spokesperson Surya Prasad Aryal said 65 candidates are in fray for Sunday’s by-election under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Of this, 34 are contesting in Bara, 22 candidates in Chitwan and nine in Tanahun.

According to him, around 4,000 staff have been mobilised for conducting the by-election, while the local levels have arranged special security arrangements in view of the election security.

“Seven to nine staffs have been deployed at each voting centre, while the security personnel have been deployed as per the requirement,” said Aryal.

Additionally, six national organisations have received permission from the commission for election observation.

The Election Commission has plans to count the votes from Sunday night and announce the final results by Tuesday, Aryal added.

These constituencies remained vacant after Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal leader Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav got elected as President on March 9 and Vice President on March 17 respectively.

In the general election held on November 20 last year, Paudel was elected from Tanahun-1 and Yadav from Bara-2. 

Chitwan-2 seat fell vacant after Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane, who was elected from the constituency, lost his lawmaker status as his citizenship certificate was found invalid by the Supreme Court.

Out of three constituencies, all eyes are now on Chitwan-2 and Tanahun-1. In Chitwan, the chair of RSP Lamichhane, Jit Bahadur Shrestha from the Nepali Congress and Ram Prasad Neupane of the CPN-UML are contesting the election.

In Tanahun, Dr. Swarnim Wagley, the erstwhile Nepali Congress stalwart, is competing under the   banner of RSP after tendering his resignation from the NC. His chief rival is Govinda Bhattarai of Nepali Congress. Similarly, in the third constituency Bara, president of Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal (JSP-N) Upendra Yadav, is in the election fray.

Meanwhile, the EC has asked the concerned bodies, including political parties, candidates and their representatives, voters, civil society, among others, to make the by-elections easy, free, fair and fearless.

The EC has issued a 10-point instruction to the concerned bodies to conduct the election in free, fair and fearless environment in accordance with prevailing laws and codes of conduct.

As per the instructions, the EC has banned taking the prohibited goods like flammable solid or liquid, camera and mobile phones in the polling centres. The EC has also forbidden entering the polling centres under the influence of any drug or alcohol. 

The EC also asked the employees and candidates' representatives who will be engaged in the election work to comply with the election code of conduct and give high priority to disabled, senior citizens, pregnant women and lactating mothers during the voting.

The EC also instructed the concerned officials to bring the violators of election code of conduct to book immediately, asked returning officers to allow a member of the same family to assist the visually impaired or physically challenged person, who is unable to identify the election symbol he/she intends to vote for.

In the case of such a person, a member of his/her same family is required to take permission from the returning officer to lead him/her to the polling booth and cast vote, the EC added.

The EC further asked the deployed employees to immediately inform the election officer, security system and the commission if any kind of undesirable activities or unusual situation take place during the polling and make necessary arrangements to resume the voting.