As the election approaches, candidates are busy wooing voters in villages and towns. Voters, on the other hand, are worried about violent clashes and stone-pelting, as in past elections.
What you should know
When we reached the remote Thadi settlement of Bigu Rural Municipality-1, some locals were plowing their fields to sow maize, while others were busy planting potatoes. 53-year-old Sommai Tamang, who was spreading manure in her fields, was undecided whether to vote in the election.
This remote settlement is inhabited only by the Tamang community. More than 280 houses belong to Tamang voters.
Even though she walks an hour to the polling station to vote in every election, she is not very enthusiastic about the election because her vote is taken away due to fights and clashes. ‘Even going to cast her vote in the election is a struggle,’ she said. They throw stones and insult us, they take away our votes, why go to cast a vote that she is not allowed to cast?’ She said that she wants to vote in the election with her own hands.
Bathur Tamang, 67, from Thadi, who was walking towards the lake to look for grass with a hoe in his hand, was also annoyed by the clashes and insults that occur on election days. He said that even though he wanted to vote in person, he felt insecure. "When the election comes, the slander will be a stone-throwing affair," he said, "We, the elderly, women, and children, are the ones who are being dragged, we cannot escape, the Tighremunghre snatch the votes from our hands, they are the ones who are being thrown away." He questioned who will protect the votes of people like us in the Falgun 21 elections.
In remote villages, voters seem to be more concerned about the safety of themselves and their votes during voting than about the candidates who give slogans with promises of village development. A local said that in any case, in the race to win the election, there are activities that make voters insecure in the village. ‘We stop winning the hearts of the voters and steal their votes under the guise of money, they cast their votes through hooliganism, what is the meaning of such elections,’ he said, ‘Because of this kind of coercion in the vote, our village does not have a road that runs all year round, we are forced to walk for hours to buy Sitamol, and we have to leave the village to educate our children.’
Dolakha, which is always turbulent in elections, is curious whether the upcoming House of Representatives elections will be peaceful or not. Shooting and booth capture are common here in every election. In every election held since 2048, Dolakha has always witnessed violent incidents.
There have been a series of booth capture and clashes in every election. During the campaigning for the 2074 local level elections, tension increased after an UML activist died in a clash between UML and Maoist activists in Gaurishankar Rural Municipality-2. In the same election, after the voting ended, one person was killed when the police opened fire after a Congress worker in Melung Rural Municipality-1 broke a sealed ballot box and threw out the ballot paper, claiming that it was rigged. The police fired dozens of rounds of bullets. At that time, more than half a dozen people were shot.
Baityashwar and Tamakoshi Rural Municipality were tense during the 2079 BS local level elections. In the 2079 BS House of Representatives elections, incidents of clashes, beatings, etc. occurred at 23 polling stations. Voters in that election were terrified and could not even go to cast their votes. Some voters were beaten up on the road and were deprived of voting. For the first time in the same election, voters protested booth occupation. At the Baityashwar-6 polling station, an elderly voter broke a ballot box in anger after being unable to cast his vote.
The polling stations have become unsafe for the general voters due to the violence caused by capturing votes. Voters have been saying that they have not been able to vote for years at some polling stations. In the past, only one or two polling stations were disturbed, but this trend increased in the 2079 elections.
As the election time approaches, voters have started asking again whether they will be able to participate in the vote peacefully. Clashes and gunfire broke out after booths were captured in 25 polling stations in Baityashwar, Tamakoshi, Gaurishankar, Bigu, Melung, Kalinchowk, Shailung Rural Municipality and Jiri Municipality in the district.
Preparations are underway to provide security to voters and polling stations in the upcoming House of Representatives elections with the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force. Security sources have informed that the groups that are preventing voters from casting their votes have been identified as in the previous elections and a strategy has been formulated accordingly. ‘To create an environment where voters at polling stations that are considered unsafe can cast their votes, security personnel will be brought safely from their homes and taken to their homes,’ a security source in the district claimed. ‘This time, voters will not be intimidated or allowed to occupy the booths under any circumstances. We urge them to come and cast their votes with confidence. We also ask them to contact us if they feel unsafe.’
But due to the violent incidents in past elections, voters have not yet been able to gain confidence. A voter found in Gaurishankar Rural Municipality said that he had decided not to vote due to lack of vote security. ‘Whether I go or not, the votes in my name have been falling since 2064,’ the voter said. ‘In 2064, I only went to the polling station to cast my vote, they did not let me cast my vote and took it away and cast it myself.’ The last time I voted for the first time in the 2001 election, I will go to vote if there is such security.''
The army, police and the civil society have been conducting joint patrols in remote villages for three weeks to ensure the safety of voters. A base camp of security personnel has been set up in the remote villages. The security committee has stated that a strategy has been formulated to have a positive impact on the security of voters. Chief District Officer Hari Prasad Ghimire said that booth capture and fake votes will not be allowed as they have studied past incidents in detail.
