Government Intensifies Nationwide Security Preparations for Upcoming Elections

Kathmandu: The government is engaged in nationwide security preparations to conduct the upcoming House of Representatives elections in a clean, fair, and fearless environment. Following the completion of province-level security seminars to make the election-targeted security strategy effective, the security mechanism has become fully active.

The province-level security seminars, which began on Mansir 9 from Rupandehi in Lumbini Province, concluded on Tuesday in Janakpur of Madhesh Province. In these seminars, organized annually by the federal Ministry of Home Affairs and the provincial governments, election security was given higher priority than internal security this time.

Addressing the Madhesh Province-level security seminar, Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal clarified that the House of Representatives elections will be held on the scheduled date. According to the Home Minister's secretariat, instructions have been given to mobilize the Nepal Police, Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, and the National Investigation Department in a coordinated manner to make the election fair and fearless.

The government has already implemented the Integrated Security Plan-2082 for the elections to be held on Falgun 21. Additionally, the Procedure for Recruitment, Selection, Appointment, and Mobilization of Election Police-2082 has been approved and is in the implementation phase.

According to the plan, Nepal Police stated that the selection process for 133,980 election police personnel has moved forward. In this election, approximately 88,000 personnel from the Nepali Army, 77,000 from the Nepal Police, and around 34,000 from the Armed Police Force will be deployed.

For the security of polling stations, Nepal Police has categorized polling stations across the country based on risk. According to the police, 2,845 polling stations have been identified as normal, 4,442 as sensitive, and 3,680 as highly sensitive, with security arrangements made accordingly.

The government stated that it has placed high priority on coordination between security agencies, information exchange, and rapid response capability to make the election influence-free and credible.