Saptari's 209 polling stations highly sensitive

Binay Karn,Saptari, (Kalyanpur), Feb. 23: For the House of Representatives elections to be held on March 5, 209 of the 298 polling stations in Saptari have been placed on the list of highly sensitive ones based on security analysis.

Out of 298 polling stations, including 296 permanent and two temporary, 209 have been placed on the highly sensitive list and 83 on the sensitive list.

Based on the security analysis, 209 polling stations in the district have been listed as highly sensitive and 83 polling stations have been listed as sensitive, informed Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Saptari, Dambar Bahadur Puri.

Puri said that preparations are being made to ensure that voters can cast their votes easily, fearlessly, and fairly at highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations. In constituency-1 of the district, there are 80 polling stations and 152 polling centres. 

Similarly, 68 polling stations and 130 polling centres have been set up in Constituency No. 2, 74 polling stations and 144 polling centres in Constituency No. 3, and 74 polling stations and 136 polling centres have been set up in Constituency No. 4, according to Ramesh Kumar Joshi, Chief of the District Election Office, Saptari. 

Joshi said that there will be two temporary polling stations, one at the prison in Rajbiraj and the other at the District Coordination Committee, Saptari.

According to the District Election Office, Saptari, there are a total of 446,402 voters in the district, of which 233,096 are male, 213,283 are female, and 23 are others.

Liquor shops to close by 7:00 pm 

Meanwhile, the District Security Committee of Saptari has decided that all retail and wholesale liquor outlets must close by 7:00 pm in a bid to ensure that the forthcoming House of Representatives election is conducted in a free, fair, orderly and dignified manner.

The decision, taken at a meeting of the District Security Committee and stakeholders held at the District Administration Office on Friday, was made public on Sunday. 

According to the announcement, licensed retail and wholesale liquor vendors will be permitted to sell alcohol only until 7:00 pm, while hotels and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol until 8:00 pm, after which shutters must be closed.

The committee has warned that any retail liquor shop found selling homemade alcohol without a valid business registration certificate will have the products confiscated and destroyed, and legal action will be taken in accordance with prevailing laws.

Similarly, the meeting decided that action will be taken against sweet shops found using excessive lighting to make food items appear more attractive if such products are deemed harmful to health, excessively coloured or unfit for consumption. Authorities will also seize underweight sweet boxes sold in vehicles.

The decision further states that legal proceedings will be initiated against pan shops, grocery stores and general stores found selling tobacco products without proper licences.

In addition, under the Tobacco Products (Control and Regulation) Act, 2011, the committee said action will be taken against anyone found selling tobacco products within 100 metres of educational institutions, health facilities, child welfare homes and clubs.