Even amid uncertainty over the snap elections announced by President Bidya Devi Bhandari after the dissolution of the House, Nepal Police is preparing to recruit temporary personnel.

Preparations are on to recruit 96,000 temporary police personnel for the upcoming polls, said Senior Superintendent of Police Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, who is also the force’s spokesperson. The proposed numbers are less than that of 2017.

“We are committed to holding elections on the stipulated date announced by the government,” said Kunwar.

In 2017—when the federal and provincial elections were held on November 26 and December 7—the government had hired 98,168 temporary police personnel to provide security to polling stations. A source at the Ministry of Finance told the Post that around Rs3 billion was spent on the temporary personnel.

He said that a meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs two weeks ago had asked Nepal Police to prepare plans to recruit temporary police. “We are yet to confirm the total budget for it, this is going to be minimum this time,” said Kunwar.

Most of the political parties, including the Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Nepal faction of the Nepal Communist Party, the Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajbadi Party have been terming the dissolution of the House and the announcement of snap elections as an unconstitutional move.

As many as 13 writ petitions have been filed against Oli’s administration’s House dissolution move and those writs have been sent to the Constitutional Bench. A large group of people, including members of various political parties and citizens have criticised Oli’s move as being unconstitutional, and are waiting for the court's verdict on the petitions..

Even the chairs of the Dahal-Nepal faction of the Nepal Communist Party asked the Election Commission on January 11 to halt preparations for the general elections as the case was still sub-judice.

“Nepal Police's role is to provide security for the upcoming elections, which should be held in a peaceful manner,” said Kunwar. “We are having an extended discussion over the topic.”

He said there is a possibility of recruiting the temporary police personnel in the third week of February. “We can complete the recruiting and training process all across the country within two months,” said Kunwar.