Heavy snowfall on Saturday has disrupted movement in Hilsa and Limi of Namkha Rural Municipality-5 and Ward No. 6 of Humla. These villages are cut off from the district headquarters, Simkot. To reach Limi and Hilsa from the district headquarters, one has to cross the Nyalu and Nara lakes, which are about 5,000 meters long.

"There is at least three feet of snow now," Namkha-5 ward chairman Paljor Tamang said over the phone, "Now, until the snow melts, all movement is stopped." There are 672 voters in three polling stations in Limi. Of them, there are barely a hundred in the village, he said. The locals have gone out of their homes to escape the cold and for business and study. 

Of the three villages in Limi, only Til and Halji are open, while all the houses in Jang village are locked. About 50 households in Hilsa are also now unoccupied. Before the snowfall, about two dozen hotels were operating in Hilsa. The Simkot-Hilsa road has been closed since the second week of Kartik. 

Limi had snowed twice in Kartik. ‘There was no snow in Pus, but there was heavy snow again in Magh,’ said Gyaljen Tamang of Halji in Limi, who had come to Birendranagar in Surkhet to escape the cold. ‘It takes at least two months for the snow on Nara and Nyalu to melt, by that time the election will be over, and it was a problem to return home.’ Kunsang Tamang of Hilsa, who was met in Birendranagar, said that he was worried that he would not be able to vote this time. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh candidate Tasi Lhanjom said that he could not go to his own village to campaign due to the snowfall. 

Limi has three polling stations and Hilsa has one. Rural Municipality Chairman Prem Bahadur Lama said that there is no option to charter a helicopter to deliver voting materials to those polling stations. ‘It is impractical to hold elections in the Himalayan district in Falgun,’ he said. ‘Voters are also few, and there were problems in campaigning.’ According to him, out of the three polling stations in Limi, the number of voters in Jangaun, Bhrikuti Primary School polling station, is zero. ‘They have already gone out to escape the cold before the snow,’ he said. ‘In other villages, only shepherds are staying.’ He estimates that if voting were held in this condition, only 30 to 40 percent of the votes would be cast at the polling stations of Himshikhar Primary School, Litgaun and Sunkhani Primary School. 

According to the data of the Provincial Police Office, there is heavy snowfall at 20 polling stations in high-mountain settlements. According to the police, about 4,000 voters are outside in those areas. Provincial Police Office spokesperson Senior Superintendent Ram Prakash Shah said that 10 police posts in Karnali, which is experiencing extreme cold, have been relocated to the District Police Office since the second week of Kartik. ‘Initiatives have been initiated to return those posts to the villages,’ he said. ‘All the posts will be restored within the next two weeks.’

Most of the people in the villages of Mugugaun, Kirti, Dolfu, Kimri, Karti, and others in Mugamkarmarong Rural Municipality of Mugu are outside. Mugugaon Rural Municipality Chairman Tshiringkapne Lama said that about 400 people from Mugugaon alone have gone out of the village to escape the cold. “Most of them are at home in other villages,” he said. “Some are staying in villages around Pulu, the municipality’s center. Those who have gone to Gamgadhi can be returned to their villages, but how can those from outside the district be returned?” He informed that only the monks of the monastery are in Mugugaon. He said that due to the snowfall on Saturday, about two feet of snow has accumulated in those villages. He said that the employees of the ward offices and health posts of the high-mountain settlements have been called to Pulu, the municipality’s center. 

Mugu Chief District Officer Khadananda Khatri said that the security agencies have started collecting data on how many voters are outside. According to him, there is no option but to transport ballot boxes and election materials by helicopter to the five polling stations in Mugugaon, which are subject to heavy snowfall. ‘There are no road facilities to reach those polling stations, and since it is an area that keeps on snowing, it cannot be transported,’ he said.

Humla Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi said that there is no need to panic as there is more than a month left for the election. He said that there will be some problems in voter education and campaigning. According to him, about 50 percent of people in Limi have not left the village. ‘Currently, the flow of people coming here is increasing rather than going to the Terai,’ he said, ‘Even the snow will melt by the day of voting, and the roads will be open.’ 

In the last House of Representatives election, 72 percent of the vote was cast in 3 polling stations in Limi. He claims that most of the voters will return by the first week of Falgun. He informed that preparations are also being made to return the Limi police post. The rural municipality has prepared to open schools in Namkha from Falgun 1. ‘It will be easier to conduct voter education programs after the school opens,’ said Rural Municipality Chairman Prem Bahadur Lama, ‘Initiatives are being taken to bring voters back to the village until the election.’

Ghunsa voters expected to return to the village by the second week of Falgun

Ghunsa Basic School, located at an altitude of 3,100 meters, is set to open from Falgun 10. Principal Bidyananda Singh, who is based in Biratnagar, reached the Ghunsa settlement on Falgun 9 and informed that the school will open from the next day. According to him, students will reach school only after the 18th-20th. ‘The Sherpa community will celebrate Lhosar on Falgun 6,’ said Singh. ‘Looking at the trend so far, there is a possibility of returning after Lhosar, and the villagers are likely to reach the settlement by the 15th.’ More than half of the people of Ghunsa are currently outside Taplejung in places such as Kathmandu, Dharan, and Darjeeling, India.

About half of the residents of Olangchungola, another settlement at an altitude of 3,100 meters, are in the settlement. The residents here do not leave the settlement and do not go out. But since there is not much work during the cold season, they go to the district headquarters, Phungling, and the capital, Kathmandu, to meet relatives. They usually return only after the start of Falgun. 

The residents of Yangma, which is at an altitude of 4,200 meters, which is the highest point in the district, are in the village. They have started the practice of living in the settlement since last year, descending to a place called Chene every winter. They are in the settlement this year too. 

These are the polling stations at the highest points in the district for the elections. "There is no problem from the voters' side as they return to their settlements after celebrating Lhosar. However, if it snows at that time, it may be a problem for the staff conducting the polling," said Ward Chairman of Phaktanglung Rural Municipality-7, Cheten Sherpa Lama. "Leaders do not reach the settlements to ask for votes in advance. Voters who are outside the settlements do not come for elections other than local level elections either." There are 61 voters in Yangma, 276 in Olangchungola, and 166 in Ghunsa. However, in the previous election, only 13 votes were cast in Yangma and 96 in Olangchungola. Ward chairmen estimate that around 100 votes will be cast in Olangchungola and Ghunsa this year as well.  

  Challenges from campaigning to transporting ballot boxes in Gorkha

There is no atmosphere for elections in Chumanubri Rural Municipality of Gorkha, which is geographically remote. Even though candidacy was registered on 6th Magh, no candidate 

The settlements of the Himalayan villages have not reached. Most of the residents of the settlements of Samdo and Samagaun of Ward 1 of Chumanubri, Lho of Ward 2, and Chekampar of Ward 7, which are located in the lap of the Himalayas, are currently in Kathmandu, Pokhara and other cities to escape the cold. Voters who came to the valley in the last week of Kartik are preparing to return to their villages after the election.

Nima Lama, the chairman of Chumanubri, says that they will return to their villages to celebrate local festivals as Gyalwo Lhosar falls in the first week of Falgun before the election. ‘It is the fourth largest rural municipality in Nepal, there are scattered settlements, and it takes a day for candidates to reach from one village to another,’ he said. ‘Candidates may not be able to reach all the villages, it is the custom to reach the wards and campaign through workers.’ He said that 21 Falgun also seems irrelevant in terms of weather. "The cold is not over, sometimes it even snows," he said, "There will be no problem in voting after the election is announced, but a helicopter may be needed to transport the ballot boxes after the voting."