( CNN ) -- Nepalese authorities in Kathmandu seized ballot boxes Sunday , disrupting elections for Tibetans who were voting to elect a new prime minister and government in exile , officials said Monday . `` The administration intervened in the so-called election because Nepal 's foreign policy does not allow any activities against any friendly neighboring countries , '' Nepal 's Home Ministry spokesman Jaya Mukunda Khanal told CNN . Tibet is officially an autonomous part of China . Many Tibetan leaders advocate what they describe as a more genuine autonomy , while others seek independence . China rejects Tibetan claims of independence or greater autonomy and claims sovereignty over the area . An estimated 20,000 Tibetan exiles live in Nepal . Nepal maintains that Tibet is part of China , and does not allow any anti-Chinese activities on its soil . Khanal denied that there had been any instructions from the Chinese government to foil the election . According to a Home Ministry statement , 18 ballot boxes were seized and investigations are being carried out . No arrests were made , Kathmandu police Chief Ramesh Kharel told CNN . About 30 Nepalese police conducted the confiscation operation at two Kathmandu polling sites , according to a statement on the website of the Central Tibet Administration . But Thinley Gyatso , the regional Tibetan election commissioner in Nepal , said that authorities had given him permission to conduct the vote and that he is pressing the Nepalese government to return the ballot boxes , according to the Central Tibet Administration statement . Journalist Manesh Shrestha contributed to this report .
Tibetans were casting their votes for a government in exile . Tibet is an autonomous part of China . The Chinese have been there since the Qing Dynasty, and they are still occupying it today.