The Central Election Cell of Nepal Police is now preparing a security plan targeting the November 20 elections.
A 25-member Central Election Cell has been formed under the command of Additional Inspector General (AIG) Sahakul Bahadur Thapa of the Department of Operation.
The team will prepare the entire security plan for the upcoming elections and coordinate with the Election Commission Nepal and other agencies.
Apart from this, a six-member ‘Central Command Post’ has been formed under the coordination of Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Tek Narayan Pandey to conclude the elections.
Similarly, a ‘Central Joint Election Cell’ has been formed under the coordination of Joint Secretary and Chief of Security and Coordination Division Fanindra Mani Pokharel.
“As per the security plan of the Central Election Cell of Nepal Police, Nepal Police and temporary police will be mobilised in the upcoming elections. Coordination with other security agencies will also be decided accordingly,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and Spokesperson for the Police Headquarters Tek Prasad Rai said.
After analysing the security threat of every polling station across the country, the security arrangements for the upcoming elections will be arranged, he said.
Unlike the local body elections, this time too, Dolakha and nearly a dozen other districts are sure to come under tight vigilance in terms of security threats. “Dolakha is seen as highly sensitive in terms of security challenges in every election. So has been the past there,” DIG Rai said.
In the last local level elections, clashes erupted in 11 polling stations in Dolakha. In the election of 2017, one human casualty was reported in the district.
Police Spokesperson Rai said that lack of coordination among the parties in Dolakha poses security challenges. “There is no coordination and cooperation between political parties.
Since the equation has changed this year, the situation will not be the same as before, Rai said. This year we are confident that there will not be such a clash.
Meanwhile, the concerned district administration office should also play a coordinating role.
Rai said that the police will make a security plan by learning lessons from the past and analysing the current situation.
Recruitment of temporary policemen to begin soon
The Nepal Police Headquarters, Naxal, has also said that it has been calculating tentative requirement of the force of temporary policemen, appointed for a fixed time period.
Although the Nepal Police Headquarters had employed 100,000 temporary police in the local body elections held on May 13 this year, this time the Headquarters has planned to seek approval of over 135,000 temporary policemen and allocation of the budget accordingly.
The proposal to fix the budget and manpower is first prepared by the Home Ministry at the recommendation of the Police Headquarters and at the end the Ministry of Finance will approve the budget.
Source : TRN,
