Nepal Voter 'Overwhelmed' to Give Birth in Polling Station

A Nepalese woman, excited to be voting for the first time, told Wednesday how she went into labor and gave birth at a polling station during elections in the Himalayan nation.

Parbati Bhandari told AFP she was so keen to take part in polls on Tuesday to elect a constituent assembly that she walked 30 minutes to a polling station just six days before her due date.

"As this was my first time, I was excited to vote, but about an hour after I reached the polling station I had sudden pain in my lower belly," the 20-year-old housewife said by phone.

Fortunately the polling booths were set up inside local government offices in the midwestern district of Myagdi that included a small health center. Bhandari gave birth at the center to a healthy baby boy on Tuesday afternoon --- then she cast her vote.

Bhandari said she was "overwhelmed" to have become a mother on the same day as elections for the assembly charged with writing Nepal's post-war constitution and aimed at ending years of political instability.

Her migrant worker husband has suggested she name their son, "Nirwachan" (Nepali for election).

"I was extremely happy to give birth on this historic day," she said.

"But seeing a constitution completed... will make me even happier," she added.