Nepalvisit

Election fever catches up in Banke W ith the second phase of the House of Representatives and State Assembly elections just days away, Banke district, the main trading hub of the western Nepal, is agog with election activities. A two-way competition is predicted in Banke district constituency number 1 and 2 while a three-way contest is expected in constituency-3. However, the election contest in constituency-2 is going to be the most watched one. The Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City lies in this constituency. Banke constituency-2 is the constituency in which the former Prime Minister the late Sushil Koirala of the Nepali Congress had been continuously contesting the general elections since 1991. But this time around, the Nepali Congress has for the first time not fielded its candidacy from this constituency. The NC is supporting the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)'s candidate Om Prakash Ajad, the common candidate of the Democratic Alliance which the NC heads. The CPN (U

Voters with visual impairment in Surkhet worry their votes might be misused Bhima Acharya, a visually impaired from Surkhet, voted in the local level elections six months back but did not feel so confident her votes met the intended purpose. She had taken her niece along with her to the voting booth to assist her in the voting. "I don't know which way my niece gave my vote," she said, expressing her doubt thet her niece voted for the candidate that she wanted to vote for. Another blind voter from Birendranagar, Menaka Acharya is also worried about the confidentiality of her vote in the election. "The confidentiality of our votes would be protected had there been provision for voting electronically for visually impaired people like us. However, the state is utterly ignorant of this fact and has done nothing to ensure the secrecy of our votes," she shared. Samjhana Baduwal of Birendranagar who is also a blind, shares the same anxiety expressed by Bhi