The District Election Office (DEO) Kathmandu did not organize voters´ registration campaign in the slum, as the settlement is illegal as per the government´s definition.
"Due to apathy of the government, we are being deprived of our voting rights," said Kamala Tamang, 36, a squatter, adding that none of the people from the settlement have voter´s identity card. [break]
"It is said that the CA election is a rare historical phenomena, but we are being left out of such an opportunity."
Niru KC, another squatter, said that most of the people of the settlement even do not have citizenship certificate, which rules them out as voters.
Poor people from across the country have settled in the slum.
"We did not need citizenship certificate until now so we didn´t seek one," she said, adding that they don´t need citizenship certificate as they don´t get a decent job because they are illiterate, and have don´t have enough money to open a bank account.
Januka Pokhrel, another squatter of the settlement, is disappointed with political parties for not expressing concern over their rights.
"Like others I also want to use my voting franchise, but I am an illegal citizen as far as the government is concerned," she complained.
She said that she wants to cast a vote for the candidate and the party that is genuinely concerned about their plights.
Due to the indifference of the government, squatters have been deprived of basic rights like health care, sanitation, access of road, education and others.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has stated that it does not have any plan and provision to include the voters who have been left out in the second CA election.
Bir Bahadur Rai, an EC spokesperson, concedes that a lot of people including hundreds of squatters have been left out of the voters´ list.
"We do not have any plan to include them nor do we have any provision," he said.
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