Nepal-India Border Points Closed For 72 Hours Ahead Of Second Phase Of Bihar Polls | India News

Ahead of the second phase of Bihar elections, border posts on the Nepal-India border were closed for 72 hours from Saturday. Border points in many areas, including Sarlahi, Mahottari and Rautahat, were closed for three days. Mahottari district alone has closed eleven border points with India.

Mahottari Deputy District Officer Sanjay Kumar Pokhrel told ANI, “As elections are scheduled to be held in Bihar on November 11, we have stopped cross-border movement for security reasons. All border points along Mahottari district have been sealed. They will remain closed from 22 Kartik (November 8) to 25 Kartik (November 11). The border points were closed from 6 pm yesterday to 6 pm on Tuesday evening.”

Local officials are also on high alert due to elections in the bordering Indian state. District Administration Offices on the Indian border made a statement stating that all cross-border movements will be completely suspended, except for emergencies, during the border closure period.

Whether in Nepal or India, the practice of closing the border for 72 hours during elections has become a standard security measure. Security personnel of both countries work in close cooperation to maintain order during such periods.

The second phase of Bihar elections will be held on Tuesday and the results will be declared on Friday. In the second phase of Bihar elections, a total of 122 constituencies in 20 districts will go to polls. In the first stage, voting was held in 121 seats in 18 districts.

At this stage, a total of 1,302 candidates are participating in the fight, of which 136 (about 10 percent) are women. Voting will be held in 45,399 centers and the number of eligible voters will be 3.70 crore (1.95 crore men and 1.74 crore women).

In the 2020 elections, the BJP won 42 of these 122 seats, followed by the RJD (33), JD(U) (20), Congress (11) and Left (5). In the 2015 elections, when JD(U) and RJD were allies, the number of seats for the BJP dropped to 36, while the JD(U)-RJD-Congress bloc won 80 of these 122 seats.