KATHMANDU, Nepal – To vote anyone or not is a personal matter. And anyone could abstain from voting during the polls. This act is also not a punishable offence in Nepal. However, a family in the remote Limi Village Development Committee in the mountainous Humla district was fined for not participating in the second Constituent Assembly election held on Nov. 19.
The family of Tsering Nurbu Tamang was fined Rs 7,000 for not casting votes in the polls, a Kathmandu Post report quoted the local resident as saying on condition of anonymity.
Three members from the Tamang family were in the voter roll of 190 citizens.
According to the newspaper report, villagers gathered immediately after the election and took the decision to punish the family.
It has been learnt that the Tamang family had boycotted the polling after they were forced to vote for Maoist party going against their personal voting rights.
The family finally decided to boycott the poll as the locals did not allow them to vote the party they liked.
An election employee deployed in the election booth informed that there were not polling agents of other parties except the Maoists, reported the daily.
