The by-elections in Ilam Constituency 2 and Bajhang (A) on Saturday took place without any significant disturbances.

The polls, which began at 7am, witnessed a fairly low turnout, with only 60 percent eligible voters casting their ballots in Ilam-2, a federal constituency, while the turnout in Bajhang (A), a provincial constituency, stood at around 50 percent.

In Ilam-2, a total of 115,889 individuals were eligible to vote, but only around 69,287 did so on Saturday, said Chief Election Officer Keshav Prasad Ghimire.

“This is a good turnout. Efforts are on to bring all the ballot boxes to the district headquarters by midnight. The vote count will likely begin after an all-party meeting on Sunday morning,” said Ghimire.

There were a total of 79 polling stations and 149 polling centres in Ilam-2. According to Chief District Officer Indra Dev Yadav, the by-elections were conducted peacefully throughout the constituency. According to him, a total of 1,363 police personnel were deployed for poll security.

As many as 19 candidates contested the Ilam-2 by-polls. The late Subas Chandra Nembang’s son Suhang is contesting the election from the CPN-UML for the House of Representatives. Nepali Congress leader Dambar Khadka, Milan Limbu of the Rastriya Swatantra Party and independent Dakendra Singh Thegim are among the candidates.

During the 2022 federal election, UML’s Subas Nembang beat Khadka by a narrow margin of 114 votes. The CPN (Maoist Centre) had supported Congress candidate Khadka then but the Maoist Centre has allied with the UML now.

In Bajhang (A), of the total 61,748 eligible voters, only 30,328 cast their ballot. According to the District Election Office, voter turnout in the constituency was around 49.11 percent.

“We were unable to contact poll officials in some places. They could be on the way, bringing the ballot boxes to the counting venue. The total turnout could reach around 50 percent,” said District Election Officer Man Bahadur Dhami.

There were 74 polling stations and 93 polling centres across the constituency in Bajhang. Around 1,500 security personnel were deployed to provide security during the polls. “The elections were conducted successfully without any dispute and violence. This was made possible by good coordination among security personnel, cooperation of political parties and voter awareness,” said Chief District Officer Bishwamitra Kuikel.

According to the District Election Office, ballot boxes of 90 polling centres in Saipal Rural Municipality were brought to the district headquarters by Saturday evening. The office says that the ballot boxes of the three remaining centres—Kada, Dhuli and Yarangkuringdanda—will be brought to the district headquarters on Sunday morning by a helicopter.

“We will likely start vote counting from Sunday afternoon. Preparations are to conclude the counting within 30 hours after it begins,” said Prakash Bahadur Singh, information officer at the election office.

The Ilam-2 House seat has been vacant after Subas Nembang died of a heart attack in September last year. The UML leader had continuously won the constituency since the 1999 general elections.

The Bajhang (A) bypoll was conducted for a seat in the Sudurpaschim Assembly which remains vacant after Prithvi Bahadur Singh, a member and provincial minister, died in a road accident in June last year.

All women polling officers at Saptamai

All women officers were deployed to the Saptamai Literature Study and Research polling centre in Ilam Municipality-5. According to Chief Election Officer Keshav Prasad Ghimire, five election officials were deployed to the ‘model polling centre’ to manage 545 voters.