Women are the chief election officers of Baglung, Makawanpur and Sindhupalchowk, while 9 election officers are women in Kathmandu alone.
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Sita Sharma Adhikari of the Baglung District Court does not go to the courtroom these days. Instead, she goes to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, and sometimes to the polling station.
As the Chief Election Officer, she is responsible for conducting the House of Representatives election in Baglung-1, supervising the election within the district, and coordinating with the Election Officer of another constituency, Baglung-2.
After being appointed as the Chief Election Officer on 25th Poush, the officer went to Chitwan for two days of training. After that, she returned to Baglung and established the Election Office at the District Coordination Committee office on 2nd Magh.
That office conducts administrative and technical work related to the election. Her main responsibility is also to select and deploy qualified staff to conduct voting. ‘I am doing my homework on which staff to deploy where,’ she said.
There are 115 polling stations in Baglung-1. The officer is also going to the field to understand the condition of all those polling stations herself. Due to the geographically remote area, some polling stations do not have road access. She reaches such places on foot for monitoring. ‘I am constantly inspecting the condition of the polling stations,’ she said. She had experience as an election officer in Rainas Municipality, Lamjung in 2074.
Adhikari says that impartiality and neutrality are even more important when the person hearing the case in the bench is given the sensitive responsibility of conducting elections. This is why, she understands, judicial service employees are given the responsibility of elections. Adhikari will return to regular court work only after the elections on 21 Falgun are over.
There are 77 chief election officers, one each in the district, of which only three are women. Apart from Adhikari, District Judge Geeta Shrestha of Makwanpur District Court and Judge Rita Kumari Bakhrel of Sindhupalchowk District Court have been given the responsibility of chief election officers.
The chief election officer is responsible for conducting elections in the constituency where the district headquarters is located and coordinating with election officers of other constituencies in the district. In Makwanpur, Shrestha has to look after Makwanpur-1 and Bakhrel has to look after Sindhupalchowk-1, as there are no separate election officers in those areas.
This time, there are 18 women election officers. They have to look after the respective constituencies. Out of the 10 constituencies in Kathmandu, 9 have female election officers. Kathmandu-1 is under the charge of District Judge Churaman Khadka, who is also the Chief Election Officer.
Shanti Neupane is the election officer in Kathmandu-2, Chamila Bhattarai is the election officer in Kathmandu-3, Krishna Bhandari is the election officer in Kathmandu-4, Shraddha Rijal is the election officer in Kathmandu-5, and Chapala Pokharel is the election officer in Kathmandu-6. Savita Sharma is the election officer in Kathmandu-7, Samjhana Khanal is the election officer in Kathmandu-8, Menuka Ghimire is the election officer in Kathmandu-9, and Amrita Kumari Sharma is the election officer in Kathmandu-10.
In Lalitpur, two out of the 3 constituencies also have female election officers. Isha Subedi is the election officer in Lalitpur-1 and Samjhana Simkhada Pudasaini is the election officer in Lalitpur-2. Lalitpur-3 is under the charge of Chief Election Officer Punaram Khanal.
Radhika Suwal in Bhaktapur-2, Nutan Jha in Parsa-4, Nima Ghimire in Sindhuli-1, Sita Regmi in Kaski-1, Nirmala Kumari Khadka in Kaski-2, Indudevi Neupane in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta West) and Sita Adhikari in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta East) have taken over the responsibility of election officers.
Isha Subedi, election officer of Lalitpur-1, said that she has taken the new responsibility as an opportunity to develop her leadership skills. She is the first election officer of the Supreme Court.
Subedi established an election office at the Godavari Municipality office on 2 Magh. There are 100 polling stations in this area. Subedi is busy monitoring and inspecting the polling stations. She says, ‘We have found that the code of conduct is being followed, and there is good coordination with the security agencies.’
Radhika Suwal, the election officer of Bhaktapur-2, is the district attorney of the Dolakha District Government Attorney’s Office. She has also been given the responsibility of election officer for the first time. There are 39 polling stations in this area. ‘I am committed to conducting elections in accordance with the law by being neutral,’ says Suwal.
In the ‘Election Guidelines for Members of the House of Representatives 2082’, the commission, in consultation with the Judicial Council, shall designate a district judge as the chief election officer in each district for the conduct and management of the election process, and appoint at least a gazetted second-class officer of the Judicial Service Commission as the election officer in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission.
The chief election officer is responsible for coordinating, monitoring, managing employees, and implementing the code of conduct for all election activities within the district. After the election is completed, it is also their responsibility to submit a unified report to the commission. The election officer is responsible for publishing the list of polling stations, deputing staff, managing ballot papers and materials, monitoring voting and counting, announcing results and sending details to the commission.
Election Commission Assistant Spokesperson Sita Pun Shrish said that since decisions have to be made on issues such as the eligibility and disqualification of candidates, claims and objections, employees with a judicial service background who can work by understanding the law are given priority as election officers. “If there is a shortage of such employees, the responsibility is given to employees from other bodies,” she said, adding, “Some women have been appointed as election officers based on the names received from the Judicial Council.”
