Nearly six million people across the region’s 20 districts are eligible to elect 280 members of District Development Councils in a staggered eight-phase process that ends on December 19. Authorities deployed tens of thousands of additional soldiers in the already highly militarised region to guard the vote. Election Commissioner KK Sharma appealed to residents to cast their vote and “participate in the biggest festival of democracy”. The current voting is part of a three-tier process in which residents directly elect their village representatives, who then vote to form development councils for clusters of villages called Block Development Councils. Members of the larger, third and top layer, District Development Councils, are also directly elected by residents.

Source: Irish Independent November 28, 2020 11:26 UTC