Polling stations are classified as normal, sensitive, and highly sensitive based on the conditions of the previous election, geographical structure, security perimeter, and infrastructure.
What you should know
In the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21, 41 polling stations in Ramechhap district have been placed on the highly sensitive list. Ramechhap, which has 64 wards in two municipalities and 6 rural municipalities, has a total of 96 polling stations. Ramechhap, which has only one constituency, has 228 polling stations.
According to Bholakumar Bhatta, Chief of the District Police Office, Ramechhap and DSP, the polling stations have been classified as normal, sensitive and highly sensitive based on the previous election situation, geographical structure, security perimeter and infrastructure.
He said that 41 polling stations have been placed in highly sensitive. 35 sensitive and 20 polling stations will be classified as normal and security arrangements will be made accordingly.
According to him, even polling stations that are considered normal from a security perspective are not considered completely safe. Therefore, security personnel have been mobilized to assess all polling stations based on potential risks. During the monitoring, it was found that about 15-16 polling stations did not have barbed wire or perimeters and a circular has been issued to the local government to make necessary security arrangements at those places. He said, 'CC cameras are being monitored at 31 polling stations in the district. We have suggested to the local level, school administration and voting management committee to install CC cameras at other polling stations as much as possible.'
Along with the police manpower available in the district, additional security personnel have been called from the taluk office for election security. The police personnel deployed in the election have been mobilized unit-wise and preparations are underway to deploy them to the respective polling stations 3-4 days before the voting. DSP Bhatta said that they have been given a detailed briefing on the perimeter security, operational methods and emergency action plan.
Bhatta said that if there is a problem at any place, a combined security strategy will be implemented in coordination between the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepal Army. He clarified that the District Police Office is confident that the election will be free, fair and free from fraud based on the current preparations.
According to Narayan Lamichhane, Election Officer of the District Election Office, Ramechhap, there are 187,952 voters in Ramechhap for this election. There are 2,422 temporary voters in the district. There are 17 candidates in the fray, including three independents and 14 political parties.
