Kathmandu - Nepalese security authorities Wednesday began sealing international border crossings with India as voters in the Himalayan nation prepared for historic elections scheduled for Thursday.

Nepalese authorities said the borders will remain sealed during the entire duration of the voting to prevent criminals and those involved in possible election-related violence from crossing over into India.

Nepal has also banned the sale and consumption of alcohol for five days leading up to the election.

The Nepalese Election Commission said 17.6 million people were eligible to cast their vote at 20,882 polling centres to choose 601 seats in the constituent assembly.

Nearly 90,000 election observers, including some 700 international observers, will oversee the elections.

There have also been claims and accusations of possible vote rigging and intimidation of voters.

"We have not been allowed to go to remote areas to conduct our election campaigns," said Kamal Thapa, the leader of the pro-monarchy Rashtriya Prajatantra Party - Nepal.

The assembly is tasked with ratifying a decision of the parliament to abolish the monarchy and draft a new constitution.

"Nepali Congress will propose the motion to formally remove the king during the first sitting of the constituent assembly," said Prakash Man Sing, vice president of Nepali Congress party. "We need a simple majority to carry the motion forward."

But it remains unclear which party will win the highest number of seats.

"No party will get a majority in the elections but it appears that the moderate Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninist will get a slightly higher number of seats than other parties," analyst Dev Raj Dahal said.

He said he thinks the Maoists might try to bring together pro-republican parties if its election performance is weak.

"If the Maoists don't get 20 per cent of the total seats, they might try to create polarization among parties on the lines of ideology," Dahal said.

But Dahal said despite sporadic violence, he believed the voting would be relatively free and fair, with international and national observers acting as a deterrent to irregularities.

"We trust the people. That is why we have the voting," Dahal said. "People in Nepal have become conscious about their politics and their rights." (dpa)