New polling centres planned in Humla for March 5 elections

By Rajan Rawat,Humla, Nov. 16: Preparations are underway to add new polling stations and polling centres in Humla district for the upcoming parliamentary election scheduled for March 5, 2026. 

The district-level Committee for Determining Polling Stations and Centres has decided to recommend additional locations to the Election Commission.

According to officials, the decision was taken because voter numbers have increased, and many voters currently have to walk for up to 3 hours to reach their designated polling centres to cast their votes. 

Chief of the District Election Office, Bhim Bahadur Rokaya, said that Friday’s meeting of the committee agreed to recommend the addition of two new polling stations. 

“With a higher number of voters and long walking distances, we have recommended new polling stations to ensure easier access,” he said.

Among the recommended additions, a new polling station is proposed at Mahaketi Laxmi Secondary School for voters of Devkota Bada and Bhattebada, separating them from the existing Mahadev Secondary School, Darm Polling Centre in Chankheli Rural Municipality–2.

Similarly, for voters of Tangin village in Namkha Rural Municipality–1, the committee has proposed establishing a new polling station at Namodachemu School. 

Until now, locals of this village had to travel to the Buddha School, Hekpa Polling Centre, to cast their votes.

The committee has also recommended splitting polling centres with more than 1,000 voters into sub-centres ‘Ka’ and ‘Kha’ to manage voter flow effectively. In the 2022 election, Humla had 58 polling stations, and the district currently has 33,308 registered voters.

The meeting was attended by Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi, Simkot Rural Municipality Chair Bijay Bhandari, security chiefs, and representatives of political parties.