Voting halts at Naya Kiran Secondary polling station in Chitwan

BHARATPUR: The voting process at a polling station in Chitwan Constituency No. 2 has been halted during the by-election. Voting at Bharatpur Metropolitan Municipality-11 Naya Kiran Secondary School has been postponed.

The voting had to be stopped as the leaders and cadres of rival political parties protested, saying supporters of Rastriya Swatantra Party’s candidate Rabi Lamichhane chanted slogans as he turned to the polling booth.

Voting was taking conducted from seven separate areas at this location. According to Ishwari Acharya, Assistant Election Officer in the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, the dialogue is going place in the voting station. Other party leaders have alleged that the rule of conduct has not been followed, in addition to chanting slogans.

He stated that preparations are being made to have an all-party meeting and begin the voting process. ‘Preparations for the meeting are ongoing, and because there are no complicated concerns, voting will commence following the meeting,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Acharya reported that 37 percent of the ballots cast in today’s by-election had dropped by 12:00 p.m. Voting is open till 7 a.m. today. Voting is still taking place in 138 polling sites throughout 43 counties in this region.

According to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Bharatpur, voting began at 7 a.m. today and will continue until 5 p.m.

There are 124,695 voters here. There are 63,291 women, 61,433 men, and one person of the third gender among them.

In this constituency, 22 people are running for office, including Nepali Congress’s Jeet Narayan Shrestha from the Democratic-Left Alliance, CPN UML’s Ram Prasad Neupane, and Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Lamichhane. The by-election is scheduled to be held after the Supreme Court ousted the legislator due to Lamichhane’s citizenship, who was elected in the November 20 election.