Kathmandu: As Nepal prepares to hold parliamentary elections on March 5, the Nepal Army has been mobilised across the country to support election security starting Wednesday.
As per the Integrated Election Security Plan, Nepal plans to mobilise 79,727 army personnel nationwide to support the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, and the temporarily-hired election police in conducting the polls peacefully. With just a month remaining before the elections, the army has been deployed to strengthen security for the House of Representatives polls.
“The Nepal Army has been mobilised in line with the decision of the Government of Nepal and the Integrated Security Plan,” Brigadier General Rajaram Basnet, spokesperson for the Nepal Army told IANS. “As part of election security, we have established bases and are already conducting joint patrols with other security agencies.”
The army will replace police forces at airports, prisons, and other sensitive installations, freeing police personnel to be mobilised in the field for election duties.
Basnet said joint patrols involve assessing election centres to arrange security management accordingly. Under the Integrated Security Plan, security arrangements will be implemented in three phases — pre-election, during the elections, and post-election.
During the pre-election phase, the Nepal Army is providing security for ballot paper printing. “Joint exercises involving personnel from all security agencies, separate ground patrols, and aerial patrols by the Nepal Army will continue,” Basnet said.
As per the plan, the Nepal Army will provide security to polling stations from the third security ring in coordination with the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force. Nepal Police will be deployed in the first ring, as has been the practice in past elections. The Armed Police Force, Nepal, will be mobilised in the second ring, followed by the Nepal Army in the outer third ring. “However, the configuration of these security rings may change depending on the situation,” Basnet said.
In the post-election phase, security personnel will be deployed to ensure the safe transportation of ballot boxes, the security of polling stations, and the protection of vote-counting centres.
Under the plan, more than 338,000 security personnel will be mobilised, including personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, election police, intelligence agencies, and other security units.
(IANS)
