The government is planning to bring down the number of temporary police to 50,000 for the second phase of the local polls. The government has already recruited 75,000 temporary police for 55 days until May 29. 

But having decided to hold the polls in the two phases, the government is now considering to mobilise 25,000 personnel in the 3,4 and 6 provinces where the elections are scheduled on May 14 in a bid to cut down costs for security arrangements. The temporary police personnel have been hired for arranging voters’ queues at polling centres on the day of vote. The second phase of polls are scheduled a month later on June 14 in local units of 1, 2, 5 and 7 provinces.

“The temporary police personnel deployed in the first round of polls will not be continued for the next round,” said Home Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi. 

The government has planned to extend the term of temporary police to be deployed for the second round of polls by around three weeks. The government will have to arrange more funds for their service extension. The government has estimated the cost of deploying 75,000 temporary police for 55 days at Rs5 billion. 

Despite the government’s decision to hold the election in two phases, Regmi said there would not be much changes in security arrangements. “Movement of security personnel from the areas where the elections will be held in first round to the areas that will vote in second round will be kept at minimum,” he said. 

The Home Ministry has said that security presence would be heavy throughout the polls to prevent infiltration of unwanted elements.

“We have decided to increase the size of security personnel for each polling centres as well as mobile teams,” Home Ministry Spokesperson said Bal Krishna Panthi, without elaborating.