Kathmandu, Feb 4:
As Nepal gears up for parliamentary elections scheduled on March 5, the Nepal Army has been mobilised across the country from Wednesday to support election-related security arrangements. The deployment is part of the Integrated Election Security Plan aimed at ensuring free, fair and peaceful polls.
According to the plan, a total of 79,727 Nepal Army personnel will be mobilised nationwide to assist the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force (APF), and temporarily hired election police. With just one month remaining before polling day, the government has stepped up security measures for the House of Representatives elections.
“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. He added that army units have already established bases in various locations and begun joint patrols with other security agencies.
As part of the security strategy, the Nepal Army will take over guarding sensitive installations such as airports, prisons, and other key infrastructure. This move will allow Nepal Police personnel to focus on field-level election duties, including securing polling centres.
Basnet said joint patrols are being conducted to assess polling stations and determine appropriate security arrangements. The Integrated Security Plan outlines a three-phase approach — pre-election, election-day, and post-election security.
During the pre-election phase, the Nepal Army is responsible for providing security during the printing of ballot papers. Joint exercises among all security agencies, regular ground patrols, and aerial patrols by the army will continue throughout this period.
Under the ring-based security system, Nepal Police will be deployed in the first security ring at polling stations, followed by the Armed Police Force in the second ring, while the Nepal Army will provide security in the outer third ring. However, Basnet noted that these arrangements may be adjusted based on ground realities.
In the post-election phase, security forces will ensure the safe transportation of ballot boxes, protect polling stations, and secure vote-counting centres. Overall, more than 338,000 personnel from various security agencies will be deployed to safeguard the electoral process across Nepal.
