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Voting began in Chitwan constituency 2 on Sunday. Voting has started in all 138 polling centers of 43 polling stations at 7 am, said assistant returning officer Ishwori Acharya. There was an encouraging participation of voters as they queued to exercise their franchise braving hot temperature. The constituency has a total of 124,695 eligible voters (63,291 women, 61,403 men and one third gender). The main competitors from the constituency are Nepali Congress Jit Narayan Shrestha from the democratic-left alliance, CPN-UML's Ram Prasad Neupane and Rastriya Swatantra Party's Rabi Lamichhane. Of them, Shrestha is casting his vote from the polling center at Chartumukhi Secondary School at Shaktikhor while Neupane and Lamichhane are missing in the voter roll, it has been said. Lamichhane vacated the House of Representatives in a citizenship issue.

Voting began in Tanahun constituency 1 on Sunday. Voting has started in all 152 polling centers under the constituency at 7 am in a peaceful manner, said Hari Prasad Dhakal, chief of the district election office, Tanahun. People can cast their vote until 5 pm today. Tight security arrangements have been made for the by-election, he said. Nepali Congress candidate Gobinda Bhattarai is scheduled to cast his vote from the polling center at Tanahun Basic Secondary School in Byas Municipality-11. CPN-UML candidate Sarbendra Khanal and Rastriya Swatantra Party's Dr Swarnim Wagle are deprived of exercising their franchise as their name is not listed on the voter roll. Following the voting, the filled ballot boxes will be transported to Damauli in the presence of the representatives of various political parties, Min Bahadur Kunwar, assistant returning officer at the office of chief election officer. After the collection of ballot boxes, an all-party meeting will be called to count votes, he added. Nepali Congress's Ramchandra Paudel vacated the House of Representatives seat after being elected third President of the country. The main competitors for the seat are Bhattarai, Khanal and Wagle. The constituency has a total of 123,305 eligible voters. In view of the voting, vehicle has been halted along Tanahun-1 section under the Prithivi Highway and local roads from 5 am to 6 pm today. However, fire engines, ambulances, hearses and vehicles carrying water, milk, garbage, health workers and journalists who have carried press pass from the Department of Information and Broadcasting will be allowed.  

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting on Friday. During the meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office in Singha Durbar, the two leaders discussed contemporary issues including the meeting of the Constitutional Council, the Prime Minister's Press Expert Manahari Timilsina said. Though Prime Minister Dahal had called a meeting of the Constitutional Council on Wednesday morning to discuss the appointment of the chief justice, it ended without making any concrete decision.

The Nepal-India border points in Bara district have been sealed for 72 hours from today in view of the by-election taking place in Bara constituency-2 on April 23. Issuing a press statement, the District Administration Office Bara said that the border points shall remain closed from 12:00 midnight today to Sunday midnight. The sale and supply of liquor has been banned in the district until the vote counting is completed, Chief District Officer of Bara Nabaraj Sapkota said. Similarly, the vehicular movements along the Postal Highway in the district have been closed except for emergency ones from Saturday midnight to Sunday 7:00 pm.