HoR elections conclude peacefully: EC

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Mar. 6: The elections to the House of Representatives on Thursday remained largely peaceful, despite sporadic cases of tensions at some polling stations, the Election Commission (EC) said.

Voting was completed in all 165 constituencies, without requiring re-polling at any polling centre, said EC Joint Secretary Narayan Prasad Bhattarai on Thursday evening.

 At the Malu polling centre in Tamakoshi Rural Municipality-4, Dolakha, voting was temporarily suspended following a dispute over the seating arrangement of candidate representatives, which escalated into an attempt to assault polling staff. Voting resumed later after an all-party meeting resolved the issue. 

A preliminary report from the Election Commission (EC) has shown a voter turnout of 60 per cent. 

People across the country, including first-time voters, the elderly, and the differently-abled, among others, participated in the elections. 

Voting in polling centers in Jhapa-5 and in Madhes Province, which were considered sensitive,  also concluded peacefully, he said. 

Voting began simultaneously at 7:00 am and concluded at 5:00 pm. However, in some polling centres where voters entered within the stipulated voting time continued to cast their votes even after 5:00 pm, the Election Commission said. 

Addressing a special press meet organised by the EC on Thursday evening, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said, "The voting was largely peaceful, although there were a few isolated incidents of disruption. 

Talking about the voter turnout, Bhandari said voter turnout is likely to increase by a few percentage points once the final report is out. 

Bhandari further stated that the vote counting will commence immediately once all the ballot boxes have been securely collected. He added that ballot boxes from remote areas in 15 districts will be transported by helicopter. 

Among these, all ballot boxes from Rasuwa have reached the vote counting centres, while the ballot boxes of Dolakha, Bajura, Bajhang, Humla and Rukum East were being transported by helicopter. 

Ballot boxes from Sankhuwasabha, Solukhumbu, Gorkha, Rukum West, Manang, Bajura and Humla are expected to reach their counting centres by Friday, 12:00 pm. Acting Chief Commissioner Bhandari said that conducting the election on the scheduled date under such circumstances was itself a challenging task. 

He added that the Commission extends its gratitude to the government and all government authorities, security agencies, voters, observer organisations, the media, and all stakeholders for their cooperation, coordination, and support in completing the process. 

Meanwhile, the vote counting for the House of Representatives election will take place at the offices of the election officers across all 165 constituencies.

According to EC, counting for the first-past-the-post (direct) system will begin once the ballot boxes from all polling stations under the respective constituencies have been collected at the offices of the election officers.

Before the counting begins, all-party meetings will be held at the district and constituency levels. 

The Commission has stated that it plans to publish the results of the direct system within 24 hours of the commencement of counting.

Once the results for the direct system are announced, counting for the proportional representation (PR) system will begin.