Around 350,000 security personnel and more than 200,000 employees will be deployed for the House of Representatives elections. The polling time is set for 7 am to 5 pm on March 21, and the Election Commission has deployed 215,000 employees, from the Chief Election Officer to assistants, for management.

About 339,000 security personnel will be deployed from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, National Investigation Department and Election Police. 

The government has formulated a three-tier security strategy targeting the elections, namely before voting, on voting day and after voting. The Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF), National Investigation Department and Election Police have been deployed to the field in accordance with the three-tier security action plan approved by the Central Security Committee meeting.

Election Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that the entire human resources, including voting management and security management, have reached the field and the commission is focused on conducting the voting in a safe, orderly and fear-free environment within the stipulated time. Bhattarai said that the relevant mechanisms from the Election Commission to the polling stations are working in coordination at all levels for that. 

The commission is working in coordination with government mechanisms through the High-Level Election Security Committee formed under the leadership of Commissioner Sagun Shumsher Jabra. Similarly, a level-based mechanism has been activated for election security and coordination through the Central Security Committee led by the Home Minister, the Central Election Command Center led by the Home Secretary, the Provincial Election Command Center led by the Chief Secretary in all seven provinces, the Provincial Security Committee led by the Home Minister of the province, and the District Security Committee led by the Chief District Officer in the districts.

Voting is being held on 110 seats in the proportional representation and 165 seats in the direct representation on February 21. 3,135 candidates from 63 political parties in the proportional representation and 3,404 candidates from 65 parties in the direct representation are participating in the election process. According to the Election Commission, out of the names of 18.9 million 3,689 people included in the voter list, 9,663,358 are male voters, 9,240,131 are female voters, and 200 are other voters.

Arrangements have been made to vote from 23,112 polling stations out of 11,110 polling stations. According to the latest update, 10,967 permanent polling stations and 143 temporary polling stations have been designated, of which 4,414 are highly sensitive, 4,442 are sensitive, and 2,254 are general in terms of security risk.  

The polling stations included in the security risk list have been updated after assessing the risk and deploying security personnel accordingly. In this way, security deployment has been made by assessing the situation including voters, polling stations, geographical conditions, number of candidates, competition between parties, security situation and challenges seen in past elections. 

According to the information received from the source, the army and the armed forces have set up a base in each constituency and surrounded the area and polling stations in four levels. In which the armed forces have been deployed in the second security circle and the Nepal Army in the third circle. The Investigation Department has also deployed its mechanism accordingly in each level. Nepal Police will be deployed to protect the polling stations and polling centers, which are the first and inner circle in election security. According to the classification of polling stations as highly sensitive, sensitive and general security challenges, police personnel are deployed in the inner security perimeter, while the election police are deployed in a supporting role at the polling station.

In this way, the Nepal Police deployed for election security has drawn up a security plan for the ‘field’ so that if there is any disruption in security management, if there is an attempt to disrupt the voting, or if other untoward incidents are seen, the Nepal Police has sought the assistance of the armed forces and the army in the second and third security perimeter. According to the Election Commission source, the forces have been mobilized so that the armed forces can reach the polling station within 10 minutes and the Nepali Army within 20 minutes if an untoward incident occurs at the polling station. The responsibility of transporting the ballot boxes to the counting center after voting has been given to the police, armed forces and the army according to the three-circle concept. 

The Nepali Army has mobilized forces under the Central Command for Election Security through the Directorate General of War Operations at the Army Headquarters. Accordingly, security has been managed from the seven districts of seven provinces and the Valley District Headquarters located in the Narayanhiti Palace complex in the Kathmandu Valley under the direct command/control and coordination of the Directorate General of War Operations. The security management of the constituencies of each province from all eight regions is being managed through the district-based battalions/combatants and separate temporary bases for the constituencies.

According to the information received from security sources, the army has deployed troops through temporary bases for the respective constituencies under the command of the battalions/combatants in each district. In which, for each constituency, the army has established a Company Operating Base (COB) as a temporary shelter under the command of a Major and has deployed manpower in the field after determining the security challenges, risks and needs of the district.

In a constituency, the army has established 1 to 6 temporary bases as per the requirement and deployed troops for the security of the polling stations. The number of COBs established for the constituency has been narrowed down to three times the number of Platoon Operating Bases (POBs) and Platoon-level units, and the number of Section Operating Bases (SOBs) has been set up by the army to provide external security to the polling stations. The number of personnel at the company, platoon, and section levels has been managed according to the security challenges of the area. These three levels of mechanism have been mobilized in various forms, including vehicle patrols, foot patrols, striking forces, and reserve forces.

This mechanism has been deployed in a way that it can reach the polling station or any place in the constituency within 20 minutes if an untoward incident occurs. Thus, the army has been deployed in the outer security perimeter of the polling stations and polling centers in 165 constituencies. About 80,000 army personnel are deployed in the field during the election. Thus, the forces deployed in the 'field' have been mobilized to provide three phases of security before voting, on voting day and after voting.

In election security, the Armed Police Force has arranged for election security mobilization, management and coordination under the command of the AIG of the Department of Work at the headquarters in Halchowk. Through this mechanism, seven battalions from seven provinces and eight battalions from the valley have been deployed as a second circle for security management of the constituencies and polling stations under their respective provinces. The Armed Forces have deployed about 35,000 personnel for election security. In the areas under the provinces, they have mobilized personnel through the provincial command and coordination and in the case of districts, they have mobilized personnel through the district election cell in the gan/gulm located in the district.