Nepal, Jan. 28 -- Heavy snowfall on Saturday has cut off movement to Hilsa in ward 5 and Limi in ward 6 of Namkha Rural Municipality of Humla district. The villages had already been isolated from the district headquarters Simkot after an earlier snowfall in November failed to melt before the falling of fresh snow. Reaching Limi and Hilsa from Simkot requires crossing Nyalu and Nara passes, both rising to nearly 5,000 metres.

"There is at least three feet of snow at the moment. Movement has now completely stopped and the passes will remain impossible until the snow melts," said Paljor Tamang, the ward 5 chief.

Limi has three polling centres with a total of 672 registered voters. But, according to Paljor, barely around 100 people are curr...