As Nepal is all set to hold polls to local government bodies on May 14 despite opposition from the Madhesi Morcha, China has become the first nation to offer help for the elections. India, which has been pushing for stakeholders to join the voting procedure, is still quiet on offering any sort of assistance regardless of numerous requests from the country.
Apart from monetary support of nine million Yuan declared during PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s recent visit to China, a bunch of election-related resources reached Kathmandu from Beijing. Chinese ambassador Yu Hong was given election-related materials such as pens, stamp pads, rubber stamps, and calculators, scales, punching machines and table watches, during a function in Kathmandu.
Nepal has also bought 30,000 ballot boxes from China. It will be delivered in Kathmandu in a day or two. The Election Commission said it needs 67 types of election-related supplies to conduct the polls and it recognized India, China and the UNDP as major bases for these items.
“Nepal had requested for around 1,000 vehicles of various types from India but we are not sure whether we are getting them or not,” said a senior Nepal government official as per a report in HT.
As per officials, the EC had requested India to give vehicles and the special ink used to mark the fingers of voters. It had asked for 11 cars, 35 double cabin pick-up vans, a mini bus, a micro bus, 30 motorcycles and seven scooters.
However, the officials of the EC and the home ministry said there had been no confirmation whether India would provide the assistance. Notably, during the second Constituent Assembly polls in 2013, India had assisted with 750 vehicles and other election-related stuffs.
