While the voting was enthusiastic across the country, voters boycotted the election in some polling stations in Darchula, Dang, Okhaldhunga and Dolakha.

The voters boycotted the election, saying that the leaders were ignoring them, not listening to the people's voices and not taking initiatives for development.

Voters at two polling stations in Darchula boycotted the election. Voters at Gaurishankar Secondary School Nagu in Naugad Rural Municipality-1 and Dudhila Basic School Jhusku in Apihimal Rural Municipality-3 boycotted the election. After not participating in the local voting, the employees returned to the district headquarters with empty ballot boxes.

Voters at both polling stations had already decided not to participate in the voting. On Wednesday, the Chief Secretary of the Sudurpaschim Province Government, Vaikuntha Aryal, reached Nagu and discussed the matter, but they insisted that they would not vote.

The Nagu Development Struggle Committee has been standing in favor of the local 'no vote' since January 1, said the coordinator of the committee, Karan Singh Dadal. 'Even though the chief secretary of the province assured that it would be addressed in the upcoming budget, the people did not believe it,' he said. He said that by not voting, the anger of the current leaders and the government was expressed.

The locals of the Nagu area had announced a boycott of the elections with the main demand of the construction of the Dallekh-Nagu-Sina road. On January 24, a team led by Darchula Chief District Officer Anil Poudel reached the Nagu area and held discussions, but no agreement was reached. The locals have been saying that they will not participate in any election until the road is constructed.

The coordinator of the struggle committee, Dadal, said that despite receiving assurances for the construction of the road in all the elections since 2070, it has not been fulfilled. 'In all the elections since 2070, we only received false assurances that the road will be constructed.' But no one built the road. Even though the candidates and the government team have asked us to participate in the elections this time, we have decided not to participate in any election until our demands are addressed,' he said. There are 602 voters at the Gaurishankar Secondary School polling station in Nagu.

The Dallekh-Nagu-Sina road being constructed by the state government has zero budget in the current fiscal year. The Infrastructure Development Office, Baitadi, has stated that the road construction has not progressed due to lack of budget. Starting from Dallekh in Naugad Rural Municipality-2, only 9 kilometers of the road has been constructed till now to Parimela near Sundamund village. About 6 kilometers of the road from Parimela to Nagu area are yet to be constructed.

Similarly, residents of some settlements in Apihimal Rural Municipality-3 had launched a 'No Vote' campaign since 15 Falgun. They complain that the ward office is in an inconvenient place for most of the settlements in Ward 3 due to the ward division in 2074 BS. Local Kamal Singh Rokaya informed that they have decided not to vote until the ward division is changed. Voters at Dudhila Basic School polling station under Apihimal-3 boycotted the election on Thursday as part of the no vote campaign.

Voters from Jhusku, Chaud, Chhabis, and Bhattar villages under this polling station have reiterated their decision not to vote. There are 346 voters at this polling station. Polling officer Premraj Awasthi said that despite all preparations for voting, no voters turned up. 53.76 percent voting was recorded in Darchula on Thursday. The Chief Electoral Officer's office has stated that 49,968 votes were cast at all polling stations within the stipulated time.

There were a total of 92,948 voters in the district. Out of which 26,631 were women and 23,337 were men. In Darchula, which has one constituency, 11 candidates from different political parties are in direct election competition.

'No development, no vote' in Dang-3
Not a single vote was cast at a polling station in Dang-3. Polling officer Tek Bahadur Khadka said that not a single voter turned up at Deuti Secondary School, Tallo Malaikhola, located in Babai Rural Municipality-7. He informed that out of 530 voters, 274 men and 256 women, some did not participate in the vote. 'Even after waiting for a whole day, no one came. It was seen that all the villagers had unitedly decided not to vote,' Khadka said. 'The decision to not participate in the vote was taken to express dissatisfaction with the leaders.'

The residents of the area, which is located in the buffer zone of Banke National Park, had earlier announced that they would not vote. They had announced to boycott the voting, saying that the leaders did not come to the village, that despite the votes cast, there was no development infrastructure, and that the village was made unsafe by keeping the Banke National Park. Maintaining the same stance, they did not participate in the voting.

Similarly, no voters came to the Janata Basic School District Polling Center in Babai-1 for half a day. Only 10 voters came in the afternoon. They also said that they did not vote to teach the leaders a lesson. Polling officer Chiranjivi Khadka said that although preparations were underway for voting since morning, only 10 voters came to vote in the end.

He said that no one came to the all-party meeting and that they were informed that they would boycott the election. There were 682 voters in the district, including 294 men and 388 women. The chairman of the Sangharsh Samiti, Chandra Bahadur Rahu Magar, said that after voting several times, there was no change and they came to the conclusion that they would not vote. "We came demanding relocation of settlements from the central area, otherwise we demanded development in the village," he said, "Our voice was not heard at all. Why should we vote if we are not heard? This is our rebellion." He said that leaders should learn from this that they should understand the feelings of the people.

Deepak Giri of the Nepali Congress was elected from Dang-3 in the 2079 election. Giri is a candidate this time too. Ghanshyam Pandey from the UML, Dhan Bahadur Maski from the Nepali Communist Party, and Kamal Subedi from the Rastriya Swatantra Party are in the fray. Maski was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly from this area in the 2079 election. He resigned from his position as a member of the Provincial Assembly and has now become a candidate.

‘No vote’ in Toksel, Okhaldhunga in protest against not building a hospital
Voters have also boycotted voting at a polling station in Okhaldhunga in protest against not building a hospital by the Koshi Provincial Government. Chief District Officer Mekh Bahadur Mangrati informed that no direct votes were cast in the election held on Thursday at Toksel polling station in Manebhanjyang Rural Municipality-7. According to Chief District Officer Mangrati, the employees who went to vote had cast their votes in the proportional representation system.

Manebhanjyang Rural Municipality Chairman Gyanendra Rumdali said that no one went to vote in protest against not starting the work of building a provincial hospital in the center, which has 701 voters. After the provincial government demanded land management for building a hospital, the locals had provided 165 ropanis of land. But the provincial government sent only a budget of around Rs 20-25 lakh annually and did not start the work of building a hospital, the locals protested by boycotting the vote.

Earlier, local political parties had also put pressure on the provincial government and warned that they would go for no voting if their demands were not met. But the problem arose because the demands of the locals were ignored, said Municipality Chairman Rumdali.

Helicopter returns with empty ballot boxes from Beding in Dolakha
A helicopter has returned with empty ballot boxes from Beding in Gaurishankar Rural Municipality-9 in Dolakha, which boycotted local voting. They said that they did not go to cast their votes because no candidate came to hear the problems of Beding. There are 113 voters in Beding. None of the voters voted. The staff, including the polling officer, waited for the voters until 5 pm.