All major Nepali and English broadsheets published from Kathmandu on Monday have reported successful conclusion of the first phase of provincial and federal parliamentary elections in 32 districts of mountainous and high hilly region of the country. As the elections were the talk of the town yesterday, other issues from political, socio-cultural and economic affairs have not received priority in the front page today.
Important
Preliminary estimates report 65 per cent turnout in Phase I
All newspapers have given the priority to the Election Commission’s claim that the first phase of elections witnessed 65 per cent voter turnout. Organising a press conference in Kathmandu after the conclusion of voting, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav informed that the mark was a preliminary estimate and it may change after obtaining data from all the districts. Rajdhani lead story says Yadav is hopeful of a slight increase in the number.
Meanwhile, former Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety tells The Kathmandu Post that the turnout percentage is satisfactory given incidents of violence before the vote and an adverse weather condition in the upper region.
Kantipur, however, comments that the turnout is significantly lower than the votes cast during recent local level elections. The polls held between May and September had witnessed 74.2 per cent turnout. In the latest parliamentary polls in 2013, the turnout was as high as 78.34 per cent though the figure in 2008 polls stood at 61.7 per cent.
Yadav hails effectiveness in poll security
Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has commented that the elections were largely peaceful against various odds including minor explosions and call to boycott the polls.
The Kathmandu Post quotes Yadav as saying that “Due to effective security arrangements made by the government, the elections were held peacefully.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs also issued a statement to claim, “There was an encouraging participation of people in the polls…This is a major achievement towards institutionalising federalism.”
Meanwhile, The Himalayan Times reports that polling has been suspended in two polling booths of Rukum West after ballot boxes were burned. The Commission says voting will be held there on December 7, when other 45 districts of the country go to the polls in the second phase.
Ignored
EU withdraws from poll observation in Kailali, Kanchanpur
After accusations of violating the election code of conduct and breaching its jurisdiction, the European Union has decided to postpone its activities related to election observation in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts, reports Republica from Dhangadhi.
Quoting a ‘reliable source’, the report says the core team of European Union, based in Kathmandu, has directed poll observers to abandon their activities, Meanwhile, the EU also formed a committee to investigate into the charges, according to the report.
The Election Commission has already decided to bar two EU observers from poll observation after the report of breach from Kanchanpur district’s Chief Returning Officer.
India cuts down power supply to Nepal
Owing to an order from the Indian Supreme Court, India has decided to cut down the amount of electricity to be exported to Nepal, reports Karobar in its lead story for the day. It means addressing the demand for power in this winter will be a challenging task for the Nepal Electricity Authority, the report says, adding Nepal will receive 55 megawatt less than expected power from the southern neighbour this dry season.
Likewise, Nepal has to pay more for the electricity to be supplied from India now, according to the report.
Interesting
Parties in rural Dhading arrange separate lines for ‘their’ voters
Voting started only at around 12 pm at a voting centre in Dhading district after political parties there demanded that their cadres line up separately for voting, reports Annapurna Post.
The report says local leaders of democratic and leftist alliances at the voting centre in Rubi Valley-2 of the district divided voters on the basis of results of recent local level elections.
But the poll officials did not agree to the parties’ proposal and insisted that women and men should line up separately as arranged by the Election Commission, delaying the commencement of voting.
The report says 730 voters cast votes at the centre yesterday. It was around 98 per cent of total voters (738).
30 per cent votes cast in Thawang
Two wards of Thawang Rural Municipality in Rolpa district, which had boycotted previous parliamentary elections, recorded an ‘exciting’ turnout of 30 per cent voters yesterday, reports The Himalayan Times.
The report claims it was a remarkable number as Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’-led Communist Party of Nepal had threatened voters of wards 1 and 2 of dire consequence if they exercised their right to vote.
Thawang had actively participated in recent local level elections too. The villages had boycotted the 2013 parliamentary polls.
