Ballot boxes have been collected at the respective headquarters of some of the 32 districts that went for voting in the first phase on Sunday while collection continues in the other districts.
The ballot boxes will be kept safely at the respective district headquarters with the Election Commission (EC) deciding to count votes together after voting in the remaining 45 districts in the second phase scheduled for December 7.
Collection of ballot boxes will be completed in most of the hilly districts by Monday evening while it will be completed only by Tuesday evening in a few remote and mountainous districts.
We talked with the chief returning officers in each of the 32 districts that went for voting on Sunday. All the ballot boxes have already been brought to district headquarters of Panchthar, Dolakha, Ramechhap, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Lamjung, Myagdi, Western Rukum and Eastern Rukum.
Collection continues in the remaining districts. Chief returning officers in Taplejung, Sankhuwasabha, Bhojpur, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Dhading, Gorkha, Manang, Mustang, Baglung, Rolpa, Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, Darchula, Baitadi, Bajhang and Bajura districts say they are working in a way to complete collection by Monday evening.
Collection in Khotang, Jajarkot, Mugu and Dolpa will only be completed by Tuesday evening, according to the officials there.
The ballots will be kept under supervision, control and management of the chief returning officer and returning officers of the respective districts. They will decide where the ballot boxes will be kept and will also decide the kind of security arrangements that needs to be made, according to the EC.
The government has made three-tier security arrangements for safety of the ballots. Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepal Army have all been mobilized for security.
CCTV cameras have been installed at the places where the ballot boxes will be kept in some of the districts. "Political parties have also installed their own CCTV cameras here for vigilance," Chief Returning Officer of Panchthar Dhruva Rai. "We have made arrangements to look at the footage of the cameras at a room of the District Coordination Committee," he revealed.
