The election authorities and political party representatives on Thursday confirmed that 90 ballot papers were torn by CPN (Maoist Centre) representatives at counting venue of Bharatpur Metropolitan City (BMC) on Sunday night.

It was revealed during the counting of torn ballot papers today.  

Representatives of CPN (Maoist Centre) had torn the ballot papers while the counting for Bharatpur Metropolitan City Ward-19 was underway on Sunday night.

A total of 2897 votes were cast in the ward, and 1809 votes had already been counted.  Of the votes left to be counted, 998 ballot papers were fine and only 90 ballot papers were found torn. Most of the ballot papers have been torn into pieces.

Chief Election Officer Kabi Prasad Neupane said he will send the report of the torn ballot papers to the Election Commission today itself and follow the decision made by commission.

The venue was opened after Election Commission instructed the chief election commissioner of Chitwan to send a new report mentioning the exact number of ballot papers that were torn on Sunday night.

Earlier in the day, the election officials, party candidates and security personnel had opened the lock at the vote counting venue.

Around three dozen people including Chief Election Officer Kabi Prasad Neupane, Chief District Officer, security personnel and representatives of political parties have entered the vote counting venue.