JUMLA: A total of 974 election police personnel have been selected from Jumla in preparation for the upcoming House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5.

Of them, 878 personnel have been selected from the Nepal Police, while 96 are from the Armed Police Force, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rabin Babu Regmi of the District Police Office. Appointment letters will be distributed to the selected election police on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the total number of voters in Jumla district, which lies in Karnali Province, stands at 71,739. Of these, 34,280 are females and 37,459 are males, according to District Election Officer Deependra Kandel.

The district, which comprises one municipality and seven rural municipalities, has established 85 polling stations and 110 polling centers. A total of 10 candidates: one independent and nine from political parties have registered their nominations from the district, which has a single constituency.

The candidates include Shantilal Mahat of CPN (UML), Deep Bahadur Shahi of Nepali Congress, Naresh Bhandari of Nepali Communist Party, Binita Kathayat of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Gyan Bahadur Shahi of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Birkha Bahadur Rawat of Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party (NWPP), Manarhishi Dhita of Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party, Ranil Bikram Shahi of Nepal Janata Party, and Birkha Bahadur Shahi of Nepali Communist Party NCP). The lone independent candidate is Bhakta Bahadur Rawal.

Notably, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is the only party to field a female candidate in the district, while all other political parties have nominated male candidates, suggesting a continued gender imbalance in electoral representation.