Heavy snowfall last Saturday has closed access to Hilsa, ward number 5 of Namkha Rural Municipality-5, and Limi, ward number 6, of Humla. The villages were cut off from the district headquarters, Simkot, after the snow that fell in the previous month of Kartik did not melt and continued to fall.

To reach Limi and Hilsa from the district headquarters, one has to cross the 5,000-meter Nyalu and Nara lakes. ‘There is at least three feet of snow now,’ Namkha-5 ward chairman Paljor Tamang said on the telephone, ‘Now, until the snow melts, all movement is stopped.’

There are 672 voters in Limi’s three polling stations. Of them, there are barely 100 in the village, he said. The locals have gone out to escape the cold, for business and study. Of the three villages in Limi, only Til and Halji have villagers, while all the houses in Jang village are locked, said ward chairman Tamang. About 50 households in Hilsa are also now without people. Before the snowfall, about two dozen hotels were operating in Hilsa. The Simkot-Hilsa road has been closed since the second week of Kartik.

Limi had snowed twice in Kartik. ‘There was no snow in the month of Push, but it snowed heavily again in Magh,’ said Gyaljen Tamang of Halji in Limi, who had come to Birendranagar in Surkhet to escape the cold. ‘It will take at least two months for the snow on Nara and Nyalu to melt, by that time the election will be over, and it will be a problem to return home.’

Kunsang Tamang of Hilsa, who was met in Birendranagar, said that he was worried that he would not be able to vote this time. Tasi Lhanjom, a candidate of the National Independent Party (RIP), said that he could not go to his own village to campaign after the snowfall.

There are three polling stations in Limi and one in Hilsa. Rural Municipality Chairman Prem Bahadur Lama said that there is no alternative to chartering a helicopter to deliver voting materials to those polling stations. ‘It is impractical to hold elections in the Himalayan district in Falgun,’ he said, ‘The number of voters is also low, and there have been problems with campaigning.’ According to him, the number of voters in Jangaun, out of the three in Limi, at Bhrikuti Primary School polling station, is zero. ‘They have already gone out to escape the cold before the snow falls,’ he said, ‘Only shepherds are staying in other villages.’ He estimates that if voting were to take place under these conditions, the Himshikhar Primary School, Litgaun and Sunkhani Primary School polling stations would receive 30 to 40 percent votes.’ According to the data collected by the Provincial Police Office, 20 polling stations in high-mountain settlements experience heavy snowfall. There are data from the Provincial Police that nearly 4,000 voters are outside in those areas.

Provincial Police Office spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police Ram Prakash Shah said that 10 police posts in Karnali, which are experiencing extreme cold, have been shifted to the District Police Office since the second week of Kartik. ‘Initiatives have been initiated to return those posts to the villages,’ he said, ‘all the posts will be restored within the next 2 weeks.’

Most of the people in Mugugaon, Kirti, Dolpu, Kimri, Karti and other villages in Mugugaon, Mugu’s Mugamakarmarong Rural Municipality are outside. Mugamakarmarong Rural Municipality Chairman Tshiringkapne Lama said that nearly 400 people from Mugugaon alone have gone out of the village to escape the cold.

‘Most of the people in other villages are still in the village,’ he said, ‘Some are living in villages around the municipality’s center, Pulu, so how can those who have gone to Gamgadhi be returned to their villages, how can those outside the district be returned?’ He informed that only the monks of the monastery are in Mugugaon.

He informed that due to the snowfall on Saturday, snow accumulated in those villages to the extent of about two feet. He said that the ward office and health post employees of the high-mountainous settlements have been called to the municipality's center, Pulu.

Mugu Chief District Officer Khadananda Khatri said that the security forces have started collecting data on how many voters are out. According to him, there is no option but to transport ballot boxes and election materials by helicopter to the 5 polling stations in Mugamkarmarong, which experiences heavy snowfall. 'There are no road facilities to reach those polling stations, and since they are in an area where snowfall continues, it is not possible to transport them,' he said, 'therefore, there is a compulsion to arrange a helicopter for election materials.'

Humla Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi said that there is no need to panic as there is still one and a half months left for the election. He said that there will be some problems in voter education and publicity work. According to him, almost 50 percent of people in Limi have not left their villages. ‘Right now, the flow of people coming here is increasing rather than going to the Terai,’ he said, ‘by the day of voting, even the snow will melt, and the roads will be open.’ According to him, 72 percent of the votes were cast in the last House of Representatives election at 3 polling stations in Limi.