KATHMANDU, May 18: Keeping in view the need for free and fair elections, the Election Commission (EC) has opposed a proposal for hiring temporary security personnel for deployment at polling stations during the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) polls.
At a meeting of the Central Election Security Committee (CESC) on Wednesday chaired by Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, top officials from Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) proposed to hire around 69,000 temporary personnel to provide security at the polling booths. [break]
According to multiple sources, the EC officials said past experience and suggestions from both national and international election observers show that temporary security personnel are undesirable for free and fair elections.
“How can we conduct free, fair and credible elections if cadres of political parties are deployed as temporary security personnel at polling booths?” said a knowledgeable source, adding “They (temporary security personnel) will not be accountable like permanent security personnel.”
At the meeting, the EC officials were informed that Nepal Police can deploy 43,552 personnel and the Armed Police Force (APF) 24,000 personnel during the polls. Nepal Police wants 60,000 temporary personnel to be hired for the polls while APF wants 9,000.
The constitutional body fears that if temporary security personnel are hired, the political parties will seek their share of such hirings just as they did in past elections. Also, the number of temporary security personnel will be greater than that of the permanent ones to be fielded.
However, Commissioner Gurung said it is yet to be decided whether or not to hire temporary security personnel. “The stakeholders, during recent interactions across 43 districts, stated that it will be better to hire former security personnel from Nepal Police, APF, Nepal Army (NA), the British Gurkhas and the Indian Army,” Gurung added.
The EC officials also maintained that the issue can be addressed if additional recruitments into Nepal Police and the APF are effected at the earliest.
“Another option for avoiding the use of temporary security personnel at polling booths is to conduct the polls in two phases, as during the general election in 1998,” the sources said, “However, the EC does not want to take up this option.”
According to the sources, if 10 security personnel are deployed at each polling station, 61,000 temporary security personnel will be needed.
Security agencies argued that temporary security personnel are a must if the polls are to be conducted in a single phase, sources said.
The EC has proposed to form a working committee headed by a joint-secretary to coordinate with security personnel deployed during the election. The committee will comprise officials from all the security agencies, besides the EC officials.
Three tiers of security were deployed during previous elections. Nepal Police was deployed inside the polling stations and the APF formed the second layer while the third tier was manned by Nepal Army personnel.
“It is yet to be decided whether three tiers of security will be used in the fresh CA polls,” sources added.
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