Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has said that there will be no wire netting at the sites of vote counting.
Wire netting was used at the counting spots in recent elections after a CPN (Maoist Center) cadre jumped into the spot and chewed ballot while counting votes in the local election of Bharatpur Metropolitan City five years back to force re-polling in that ward.
Addressing a press conference at the Election Commission premises on Wednesday, CEC Thapaliya has said that other security measures including closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras would be installed at the spots.
He has revealed that the Election Commission, however, does not have budget to install CCTV cameras at counting spots and it will coordinate with the local bodies to install the available cameras.
"The issue of not just CCTV but even wire netting apparently was raised in the last election. But we have told directly, as the saying goes that only iron can cut iron, there are no frauds in this country. So, why should one keep wire netting?" he has reasoned.
