The Central Security Committee has decided to deploy around 3.25 lakh security personnel for the upcoming election security.
The Nepali Army is set to be deployed in the field from the third week of Magh to provide security for the election, scheduled for 21 Falgun.
About 80 thousand army, about 35 thousand armed police, about 71 thousand Nepal police and 149 thousand 90 election police are being mobilized. Nepal Army Spokesperson Assistant Lieutenant General Rajaram Basnet informed that the army team will be deployed in the field one month before the voting as per the integrated action plan for security of the House of Representatives member election.
The Central Security Committee has already decided to deploy about 3.25 lakh security personnel for the upcoming election security. Of which, about 80 thousand army, about 35 thousand armed police, about 71 thousand Nepal police and 149 thousand 90 election police are being mobilized. The election police recruitment process has started from 5th Magh (Monday). After the applications were opened from 25th Poush, more than 196 thousand people have applied for election police recruitment by 3rd Magh, and now the selection has started from each district according to the specified quota.
The government is deploying Nepal Police for the security of polling places and polling centers. Election police will be deployed in the outer perimeter of the polling station. The Armed Police Force and the Nepal Army are preparing to deploy in the outer security perimeter in accordance with the security challenges so that there is no duplication of work. The army and the armed forces will provide necessary security arrangements for the district, constituency, municipality and ward areas based on the security analysis, while the police will be deployed at the polling station and center. Army spokesperson Basnet informed that all security preparations have been completed and are now being deployed in the field. He said that the necessary preparations have been completed at the level from the military headquarters to the district-level units. Based on the recommendation of the National Security Council and the decision of the Council of Ministers, President Ram Chandra Poudel has already approved the deployment of the army for security in the upcoming House of Representatives election on 11 Mangsir.
A total of 275 members, including 110 members in the proportional representation and 165 members in the direct representation, are being elected to the House of Representatives from the upcoming election. According to the Election Commission, 19.05 million voters have been included in the voting list.
11,901 polling stations and more than 22,000 polling stations have been set up for the election. The polling stations have been classified based on security risks, of which 4,614 are highly sensitive, 4,442 are sensitive and 2,845 are in general security.
The army and the armed forces will provide necessary security to the places classified based on security challenges. The armed forces have also been deployed to secure the Chief Electoral Officer's Office and the Election Officer's Office in the district. The army has been deployed for security after the ballot printing. This time, the army is being deployed to secure various prisons and the police and the armed forces working there are being focused on election security. Apart from this, the army is also being deployed to secure important government/public physical infrastructure until the elections are over. The police and the armed forces have completed the necessary procedures and are preparing to hand over the responsibility of securing the important buildings/structures they operate to the army and deploy them in the field.
