All five forces - the Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Investigation Department, and Election Police - are being mobilized with specific responsibilities and roles in election security.
What you should know
The Nepal Army has been deployed in the field since January 21 to provide security for the upcoming House of Representatives elections. The Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) are also being deployed for election security from next week.
The National Investigation Department's human resources are also being deployed to collect information to monitor activities that adversely affect the election and violate the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission. 149,090 'Election Police' recruited as 'supporting human resources' of the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force in election security are also being mobilized from next week after being given basic security training.
Thus, the government has moved forward according to the 'House of Representatives Election Integrated Security Action Plan-2082' to conduct the election of members of the House of Representatives scheduled for 21 Falgun in a fair, fearless and secure environment.
According to the approved action plan, all five forces, including the army, police, Armed Police Force, Investigation Department and Election Police, are being mobilized with specific responsibilities and roles in election security.
Since the election is going to be held in one phase for 110 members in the proportional representation and 165 members in the direct representation, a level-based security responsibility and strategy has been adopted after analyzing the security challenges and risks, an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs said. In which, as in the past, police and election police are being deployed under the leadership of the Nepal Police in the inner perimeter of the polling station and polling center.
Security manpower has been managed by deploying police and election police personnel to manage the outer perimeter of the polling station, where voters line up to vote. This is also commonly understood as the 'inner security perimeter'. An action plan has been made to increase the manpower deployed in the areas (polling stations) kept as the inner security perimeter this time compared to the past.
The Police Headquarters is providing election security training to the chiefs and other manpower deployed at the polling stations from the headquarters, the Valley Police Office, all seven provincial police offices, provincial offices of the Nepal Police and district police offices. After completing the training, the police are preparing to deploy them, including the election police, to their workplaces.
About 71,000 Nepal Police personnel are being deployed in election security. The police have formed their own election cells at the headquarters, provincial and district levels, and have also made operational arrangements with the necessary coordination and participation through the Ministry of Home Affairs, provincial and district security committees.
The Armed Forces, Armed Forces and Investigation Departments have also managed security from the center to the district level through their own single mechanism and through the center, provincial and district security committees. The Army and the Armed Forces are managing security in the areas under their jurisdiction by setting up permanent mechanisms in all 77 district headquarters and, in the case of the remaining 165 constituencies, one election base (temporary base camp) in each area.
They have also arranged for patrolling from four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles and base-based patrols at the center, according to the risk and need, according to the 753 local levels. Three groups of patrols are also deploying manpower for election security through long, medium and short-distance patrols. The Armed Forces have been kept as the second security and the Nepali Army as the outer and final security perimeter. The Nepal Police has deployed an internal security perimeter to deploy the armed forces and the army as a back-up force to reach the scene of any security risk as soon as possible.
4,614 polling stations are highly sensitive
About 80,000 army personnel and about 35,000 armed forces personnel have been prepared for election security. The mobilization policy has been made by focusing on the security sensitivity of the army and the armed forces prepared in this way.
Out of the total polling stations, 4,614 have been placed on the list of highly sensitive polling stations. 4,442 polling stations are sensitive and 2,845 polling stations are included in the list of low-risk polling stations. Home sources say that the mobilization policy has been adopted in the field to increase the security guard of the army and the armed forces at highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations.
The trend and practice of making provocative statements and making provocative statements to sway votes in one's favor in elections is not new. However, on the day of voting, incidents of rigging the voting in places where certain parties and candidates are dominant and sometimes capturing booths have also increased security risks in past elections. This time, the main challenge is to make security arrangements so that the same trend does not repeat itself. Since new forces are dominant against the old parties on the basis of the Genji movement of 23 and 24 Bhadra, the security agencies have also included the risk of unwanted activities between the parties/opposition that may increase against each other regarding the Genji movement as a challenge. A DIG of the police says that the main challenge is to control this and hold the election in a safe and fear-free environment.
Plainclothes personnel in the field
3,137 candidates are in the field for proportional representation and 3,406 candidates for direct representation in the upcoming elections.
The Election Commission has already made public the code of conduct for parties and candidates to conduct election campaigns, public meetings, and door-to-door programs from 4 to 18 Falgun.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs Anand Kafle says that necessary arrangements have been made to ensure that voting takes place in a safe and fear-free environment. He said that as per the action plan approved by the Central Security Committee and the instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Chief District Officers across the country are focused on election security.
A security official also said that in case of any untoward incident on voting day, the manpower deployed as back support has been managed to reach the scene of the incident within a few minutes. A separate security strategy has been decided for areas where movement is difficult in the hills, mountains, and Sabari.
In addition to the investigation department, the Ministry of Home Affairs has also deployed plainclothes personnel from the army, police and armed forces in the field.
Separate mechanisms have been deployed against the forces that did not participate in the elections, including the weapons looted during the Genji movement and escaped prisoners, as major security challenges. Separate risks have been identified in the Himalayas, hills, Terai and valleys and an operational policy has been taken accordingly.
