Seal border with India during election: Ex-poll panel chief

Nepal's border with India should be sealed during the Constituent Assembly polls slated for November 19 in order to check violence, former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel said today.
A total of 116 electoral constituencies along the 1,700-km border with India should be kept under special surveillance in view of the election, Pokharel said during an interaction organised by the Institute of Policy Studies Nepal on the theme "Election security and challenges".
He suggested that authorities should seal the open border during the election to check violence.
The institute's president, Rajan Bhattarai, asked all political parties to focus on the polls, to rise above personal interests and to abide fully by the election code of conduct.

According to information furnished at the event, a total of 50 people were killed in election-related violence during the first Constituent Assembly polls held in 2008, while 1,286 people were injured and 116 abducted.