Election staff deployment underway across far western province

Dhangadhi: Preparations are underway to manage and deploy staff at polling stations across Far Western Province for the House of Representatives elections scheduled for Falgun 21.

According to the Provincial Election Office in Kailali, human resource management is being carried out by mobilizing employees from federal, provincial and local governments, government-owned offices, as well as staff from banks and financial institutions. Office Chief Prem Raj Bhatta said that arrangements are being made to deploy up to seven personnel at each polling station, including one election officer, one assistant election officer, one assistant employee and volunteers. He added that teachers will be deployed if there is a shortage of staff.

Chief Bhatta informed that a total of 15,393 personnel are required to conduct elections at 2,199 polling stations across 16 constituencies in the province. District-wise, 4,487 staff are being mobilized in Kailali, which has five constituencies, 2,520 in Kanchanpur with three constituencies, and 1,491 in Achham, which has two constituencies.

Similarly, 1,260 personnel are being deployed in Doti, which has one constituency, 1,010 in Darchula, 987 in Dadeldhura, 826 in Bajura, 1,323 in Bajhang and 1,498 in Baitadi. In total, arrangements are being made for 1,176 polling centers and 2,199 polling stations across the nine districts of the province.

The number of female voters in the province exceeds that of male voters. There are a total of 1,716,660 voters, including 864,423 women, 852,219 men and 18 other voters. A total of 46,020 voters were added during the recent voter list collection.

District-wise voter numbers stand at 551,052 in Kailali, 314,385 in Kanchanpur, 165,337 in Achham, 93,403 in Dadeldhura, 156,372 in Baitadi, 92,948 in Darchula, 128,399 in Doti, 126,903 in Bajhang and 87,861 in Bajura.

In the 2079 BS House of Representatives elections, the Nepali Congress won in Kailali-4 and 5, Dadeldhura, Bajura, Darchula, Kanchanpur-2 and 3, and Achham-2. The CPN (Unified Socialist) won in Doti, Bajhang and Achham-1. The then Civil Liberation Party secured victories in Kailali-1, 2 and 3, while the CPN (UML) won in Kanchanpur-1 and Baitadi.