Local level by-election update: Voting continues peacefully in 32 districts

Kathmandu: Voting for the local level by-election has started this morning.

The voting began at 7:00 am, and it will continue till 5:00 pm today.

Currently, voting is underway across 32 districts in Nepal for 41 vacant local government positions in the by-elections.

The by-election is conducted for the posts of a mayor and a deputy mayor at the respective municipality; two chairs and four vice chairs of rural municipalities, and 33 ward chairs totaling 41 posts.

In Kathmandu’s Kirtipur Municipality, voting is ongoing for the mayor and two ward chair positions. Local authorities informed that 30% of the votes have been cast so far.

Meanwhile, in Jajarkot’s Nalgad Municipality, 5,324 votes have been cast so far for the deputy mayor’s position, while 592 votes have been cast for the ward chair position in Kuse Rural Municipality, Ward 7.

Likewise, in Bajura’s Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality, voting began at 7 am, with 2,000 people having voted so far.

Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality has a total of 7,458 registered voters.

In Gulmi’s Musikot Municipality, 1,160 votes have been cast so far in the by-election for the ward chair position. Voting has been peaceful at all three polling stations there.

In Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City Ward 12, voting for the ward chair position has seen 2,500 votes cast so far. The ward has 8,053 registered voters.

In Gorkha Municipality, Ward 5, about 20% of votes have been cast with two polling centres set up across three locations, with a total of 2,225 registered voters.

Similarly, in Kanchanpur’s Bhimdutta Municipality, 1,800 people have voted so far, with a total of 5,434 voters in the ward.

In Udaypur, 600 votes have been cast in Belaka Municipality, ward 9, and 1,100 votes have been cast in ward 12 of Triyuga Municipality.

According to the Chief Election Officer’s office in Bajhang, 4,712 votes have been cast so far in Surma Rural Municipality, ward.

Similarly, in the by-election of Rukum Paschim’s Sanibheri Rural Municipality-5, a total of 43% votes have been cast so far, representing 623 voters.

The ward has a total of 1,434 registered voters.

The Election Commission has confirmed that voting is proceeding peacefully in all other districts as well, with adequate security personnel deployed at polling stations.

Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development, Prakash Man Singh, voted at the Yubak Secondary School polling station at Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Ward No 16 in the local-level by-election today.

In his brief remarks after casting the vote, Minister Singh said all the voters should enthusiastically take part in the voting to make democracy stronger as election is the beautiful aspect of democracy.