KATHMANDU, Sept 22: The government has proposed to form a four-tier security mechanism for the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections scheduled for November 19.
The home minister, home secretary and top officials of all four security agencies -- Nepal Army (NA), Armed Police Force (APF), Nepal Police and National Investigation Department (NID) -- on Sunday briefed the Election Commission (EC) about the integrated security plan for the elections. [break]
According to officials present at the meeting, the government will form a central security committee headed by the home minister, a central command committee headed by the home secretary, regional security committees in all five development regions with the chiefs of regional administration offices as coordinators, and district security committees in all 75 districts headed by the chief district officers (CDOs).
According to the integrated security plan prepared by the government, around 62,000 Nepal Army personnel will be deployed as backup force during the CA polls.
Similarly, 54,000 personnel from Nepal Police, 22,000 from APF and over 44,000 temporary personnel will be used for election security.
The EC will form a Joint Election Operations Committee (JEOC), which will coordinate the security committees.
Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety said the CDOs can implement security plan in their respective districts with some changes as necessitated by time, situation and geographical condition. He said the integrated security plan was prepared after a comprehensive study and assessment of the present situation.
Election Commissioner Ila Sharma also echoed the chief election commissioner. "The integrated security plan is responsive to contingencies as it is much decentralized," added Sharma.
Asked if the integrated security plan for the CA polls was in accordance with the commission´s expectations, Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, who also heads the security committee at the EC, said they are very much satisfied with the security plan.
"The integrated security plan must be implemented effectively and in a reliable way," Gurung told Republica.
However, top EC officials expressed concerns over how all the security agencies would coordinate with each other and with local election officials during the elections.
"Exchange of communication is very important for election security," Uprety said, "We asked about the status of communication tools and about alternatives if there would be any problems with the available communication equipment."
According to the chief election commissioner, they also discussed the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping of all the polling stations across the country.
The constitutional body has gathered the geographical details of 10,017 polling stations through GIS.
Though the integrated security plan has proposed to deploy Nepal Army during the CA elections, there are constitutional hurdles to do so.
Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi on Sunday held discussion with President Ram Baran Yadav about removing constitutional hurdles to deploy army during the elections.
The government has been mulling to make amendment to the Interim Constitution to pave the way for deploying army as backup force during the elections.
Meanwhile, the government has solicitated applications from youths for recruitment as temporary security personnel for the elections.
Asked about the implementation of the integrated security plan, Commissioner Gurung said, "The government must endorse it for implementation."
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