Security along the Nepal-India border has been stepped up ahead of the crucial November 19 Constituent Assembly polls to avert any disturbances.
"In order to prevent any disturbances to the election, security has been tightened along the Nepal-India border in view of the upcoming elections," Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit Rae said today.
The frontier is expected to be sealed for three to four days ahead of the election, which is expected to end the political crisis that has plagued Nepal since the dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly in May last year.
India has also provided logistic support to Nepal, including 900 vehicles, to ferry security and Election Commission officials.
Nepal's Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nil Kantha Upreti said that all necessary preparations for the elections have been completed today.
"The Election Commission (EC) has created conducive environment for conducting elections in a peaceful, free and fearless manner," Upreti told reporters at the EC's office.
"All the preparations relating to the Constituent Assembly elections have been completed within the constitutional and legal frameworks," he said.
Over 17,000 candidates are contesting the elections for 601-seat Constituent Assembly under direct and proportionate voting system, Upreti said.
The voters can exercise their franchise by producing their voters' identity cards along with their photograph in a peaceful and fearless environment, he said.
We have already initiated the process of distributing voters' identity cards along with the photographs to all 12,147,865 eligible voters across the country, the CEC said.
The EC will deploy 2,15,000 trained personnel in 18,438 polling centres to conduct elections, he said.
A total of 122 political parties have filed nominations of their candidates. We have arranged security for all 17,000 candidates, Upreti said.
The November 19 polls to elect the Constituent Assembly are the second national elections since Nepal's 10-year civil war ended in 2006.
The first Constituent Assembly was dissolved without drafting the constitution due to differences among the political parties on some key issues, including forms of governance and federal structure.
