CHITWAN, May 7: Authorities have pointed out the need of helicopters for quick, safe and secure delivery of ballot boxes to their destinations after voting in some rural areas of Chitwan district.

Stating that it won’t be feasible to carry ballot boxes through roadways, SP Deepak Thapa of Chitwan District Police Office said that helicopters are being managed for the collection of ballot boxes after voting. 

“We have assessed that ballot boxes from 14 poll stations will have to be airlifted,” he said, “Helicopters will have to be used both due to the weather and the remoteness of the poll stations.” 

There are five local units in Chitwan, including a metropolitan city, a rural municipality and five municipalities. According to Thapa, Rapti municipality, Kalika municipality and Ichhakamana municipality fall in the remote hilly areas where air service is necessary for the transportation of ballot boxes. “We need to carry the ballot boxes by air from the hilly areas. There are centers where those boxes need to be dropped,” SP Thapa said.

Some of the poll stations are hours of walk from the district headquarters. Thapa said that the rough tracks to those areas are not good for walking when it rains. “If it rains, no vehicle can move along those tracks to reach the poll stations,” he said. 

Chitwan election office reports that here are a total of 313,000 voters in the district. There are 161 polling stations with 376 polling booths.  

Thapa stated that ballot boxes from a total of 43 booths from 14 polling stations will have to be airlifted. Meanwhile, the district police office is on high alert also to avert any possible anti-poll activity by the Biplav-led Maoist party, which has announced to oppose the polls. “We are on high alert. We have managed everything to provide security for holding the elections successfully,” said Thapa,

“There are challenges but we are fully prepared.” According to Thapa, apart from armed police, police and army, there are 1,255 temporary police in Chitwan to provide security during the election. “Altogether, 3,200 security personnel will be mobilized during the eelctions,” he said adding that temporary police have already been deployed in some municipalities. He also informed Republica that there are 914 police personnel in the reserve force alone. 

 
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