The only people who say elections can't be held in the terai are looking for an excuse to defer polls again. That is the prevalent feeling in the madhes.
The plains may be ravaged by floods and communal extremism, but the situation didn't seem as precarious as it is made out to be in the Kathmandu press.
"The elections are possible, I now have my citizenship papers and I'm ready to vote," says Behsan Mukhiya, a Janakpur rickshaw puller.
The Election Commission is in place, and UNMIN observers have arrived. "We are ready," says Janak Karna of the Election Commission's Dhanusha unit, who is starting a voters' education program 18 August-18 October. "But none of the parties have come to ask us about procedures."
Local politicians say the floods have delayed things but they intend to plunge headlong into campaigning once relief operations are over. Aid agencies are worried about the difficulty in getting aid to submerged VDCs because of local political interference. (See p8-9)
Indeed, the lack of flood relief is of more serious concern at present than security. "Sure there is a climate of fear," says Janakpur resident Hari Katwal, "but it's not as bad as it is portrayed in the news."