MORANG, March 22: Thirty-eight polling stations have been added for the upcoming local election in Morang district. With the new additions, the number of polling stations in the district will reach 301. 

The regional election office in Biratnagar informed that more polling stations needed to be added as the number of voters increased. “About 80,000 more people have been registered in the voter list, so we needed to increase the polling stations accordingly,” said Bhakta Bahadur Bhattarai, chief of Regional Election Office. 

As per the data provided by the election office, there were 595,433 voters in the 2013 election in Morang. At present, 77,970 new voters have been added. Anyone aged 16 can register in the voter list but they must be 18 to be eligible to vote. Also, some people in the voter list reportedly have dual citizenships. So the office estimates that 573,403 voters will cast the votes in the local elections.

Under the new local restructure, Morang has one sub-metropolitan, eight municipalities and eight rural municipalities.

According to Bhattarai, 35 political parties have registered for the election in the district. Even the parties in the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), which is against holding local election, have registered for the election.

The election office claimed that preparation for the polls has been going on satisfactorily. At present, the office is actively involved in providing election education and regional level trainings among other things. 

Likewise, political parties have also intensified their election campaign in the villages. Nepal Congress, CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist (Center), among other parties have already named their candidates. 

Leaders of the Madhesi alliance, who have been speaking against the election, have said that they are willing to participate in the election if the government became flexible and amended the constitution to address their demands. 

 
• polling stations
 
• local polls
 
• 301