General election voting ends in Nepal, 60 percent polling [TKB World]

General elections were held in Nepal on Sunday. During this, about 60 percent voting took place in the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections, in which sporadic violence and clashes took place. During these elections, one person died and polling was disrupted at many polling stations. Voting at more than 22,000 polling stations began at 7 a.m. local time and closed at 5 p.m. local time.

According to Election Commission sources, around 60 per cent polling was recorded. More than 17.9 million voters were eligible to vote to elect the 275-member House of Representatives. Barring sporadic incidents of violence, the polling was largely peaceful. A person was shot dead at the polling booth in Nateshwari Basic School of Tribeni Municipality of Bajaura. Officials said that the 24-year-old youth was shot dead by the police following a brawl after the polling was over.

Sporadic violence at many places
A minor explosion occurred near the Sharda Secondary School polling station in Dhangarhi sub-metropolitan town of Kailali district. Although there was no casualty, officials said that despite the incident, polling continued with a disruption of half an hour at the polling booth. Apart from this, some incidents of heated exchanges between party workers were reported from 11 areas of Dhangadi, Gorkha and Dolakha districts. However, this had no effect on the voting.

PM and opposition leaders voted at these places

Significantly, Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba voted in his home district Dadeldhura. He voted in the morning at Ashigram Secondary School polling station located in Ruwakhola of Ganyapadhura Rural Municipality-1. Deuba studied in this school. Deuba has won consecutive elections from Dadeldhura since 1991. He is contesting for the Federal Member of Parliament for the seventh time in this election.

Apart from PM Deuba, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli cast their votes at a polling station located in Suryabinayak Municipality in Bhaktapur district near Kathmandu. Chairman of CPN-Maoist Center and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ casts his vote at a polling station in Bharatpur municipality of Chitwan district.