KATHMANDU, Nov 27: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that senior citizens, people with disability and pregnant women were deprived of their voting rights as they could not walk to the polling stations which required hours-long walk.
Issuing a press statement on Sunday evening, the national human rights watchdog also said that many voters could not exercise their voting right due to ineffective voter education by the Election Commission. The rights body also urged the EC and concerned government bodies to ensure disabled-friendly infrastructures at the polling stations.
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According to the statement, the NHRC said it had deployed 27 monitoring teams across the 32 districts, where the first phase of the parliamentary and provincial elections were held Sunday, to monitor the voting process from human rights perspective. The NHRC said although some incidents of explosions were reported in Rolpa, Rukum, Bajhang, Bhojpur, Nuwakot and Gorkha districts, no one was injured in those incidents. The statement also said that NHRC received information that explosive materials were found near polling stations in Taplejung, Dhading, Baglung, Darchula and a few other districts and rival party had clashed with each other in a few places of Bajura, Dolakha, Jajarkot, Okhaldhunga, and Sindhupalchowk districts.
According to the NHRC, security personnel had fired shots in the air in Dolakha, Bajura and Sindhupalchowk districts. Voting process in Bafikot Rural Municipality polling station in Rukum district was halted after a ballot box caught fire.
