National
Uncertainty persists over stalled vote count in Dharan
The stalled vote count in Dharan Sub-metropolis did not resume on Wednesday as well.The stalled vote count in Dharan Sub-metropolis did not resume on Wednesday as well.
The ballot counting process was obstructed by the CPN (Maoist Centre) on Monday blaming the enumerators of counting the party’s vote as that of CPN (Marxist Leninist).
The election symbols of the two parties, however, can clearly be told apart: a bold sickle and hammer inside a circle of the Maoist Centre and an outline of a sickle without colour fill in of the CPN (ML).
The Maoist Centre supporters have accused that the rival party, CPN-UML, had a role in the counting error.
Assistant Election Officer Ganesh Khatiwada said that the vote count was suspended owing to some technical error during enumeration.
The Maoist Centre has suggested forming an all-party committee to recount the votes. But the UML has refused the suggestion.
The Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal (SSF-N) has also called for a recount.
The Maoist Centre, the UML, the SSF-N and the Nepali Congress held meetings at their party offices throughout Monday to find a solution. None had come up with any idea as of late evening.
Meanwhile, a recount of votes began in Kanchanpur’s Punarabas Municipality on Wednesday, as per the agreement of the political parties that contested in the second phase of local level elections.
The vote count was stopped on Friday after it was found that the total number of ballot papers was higher than what was cast in the municipality on June 28 elections.