Khotang, March 1 : A special programme on election education has been initiated in all the 10 local levels of the district. The programme by the District Election Office, Khotang is aimed at helping bring down the number of invalid votes during election.    
The special programme targeted for Grade 9 and 10 students includes information about the voters' list, right way to vote, use of ballot boxes, code of conduct, types of election and election practices among others. The programme kicked off from Saraswati Namuna Secondary School in Diktel bazaar of Rupakot Majhuwagadhi municipality and will be expanded to all the schools in the local levels, said District Education Officer Kopila Rai.    
Students are expected to be a good medium to help minimize invalid votes through the election education.    
Meanwhile, the Office has also begun preparations to start biometric voter registration from coming March 20. The voter registration and updating programme will be held in all the 79 wards of the district, Rai said.    
The latest census shows that the population of Khotang is 205,225 while the number of voters in the previous general elections in 2017 was 125,000.