Vote counting halted in Gorkha district as dispute escalates over election-rigging

The vote counting process has not yet started in Gorkha where Maoist chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal is one of the contenders

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NL Today

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Kathmandu: The vote counting could not start today in Gorkha as the main opposition CPN-UML and other parties demanded repolling in some polling centers. 

There was apparent electoral fraud during the voting day, UML candidate Abuds Miya told Nepal Live Today. “The voting process was captured by the ruling alliance by using the power,” he said. “We have clearly noticed such serious frauds in at least seven polling stations of Gorkha-2,” he said. 

“We have found that a single person has cast votes 10/15 times and votes in the name of the absent population have been cast,” he added. “The problem of ballot misappropriation was also noticeable in some polling centers.”

“In some polling centers, ballot papers were given to voters without the signature of election officers.” A similar type of problem was noticed in five polling centers of constituency-1, he said.

Following the dispute, the District Election Office has called an all-party meeting to find a way out. 

We do not want any confrontation and we strongly believe that the Election Commission will ensure the principle of fairness, he said. “We want re-election in the polling centers where electoral fraud was rampant.”