Pic: Jiyalal Sah

Nepal successfully held the last phase of local elections — trickier than the first two phases — in its most volatile region on Monday.

Province 2, where local elections were postponed three times before, witnessed a significant turnout, with men and women lining up to cast their votes since early morning.

Election Commission’s preliminary estimate is that 70 % of voters turned out to elect their local representatives in eight plains districts of Province 2, where Madhes-based parties had not allowed voting even as six other provinces went to the polls before the monsoon.

There was a minor clash in a village council of Rautahat district, but the voting was largely peaceful throughout the region, largely because Madhesi parties participated in the process.

Monday’s voting will elect 6,627 local representatives in 136 local councils, including one metropolitan and three sub-metropolitan cities. Results are expected to arrive in one week’s time, before Dasain festival begins.