Nepal votes to elect local representatives

This is the second time people are voting in local elections after the promulgation of the constitution in 2015 and the fourth time since the restoration of democracy in 1990, reports a local daily.

Voting, in 753 local levels, including six metropolitan cities and 11 sub-metropolitan cities, began at 0700 hours and will end at 1700 hours.

As many as 17,733,723 voters are eligible to vote to choose over 35,000 representatives including mayors/chairperson, deputy mayors/ vice-chairpersons, ward chairpersons and ward members.

In a press briefing on Friday, Nepal's Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the Election Commission had completed all preparations for the polls and that adequate provision had been made to ensure a free and fair election.

The commission has set a total of 10,756 polling stations and 21,955 centers across the country.

The government categorized 2,946 polling stations as highly sensitive, 4,423 as sensitive and 3,387 as less sensitive and the security arrangements are in place accordingly, reports local daily.

From 17,733,723 registered voters, 89,92,010 are male and 87,41,530 are female voters. As many as 79 political parties are registered for the local elections.