Kathmandu , Nepal ( CNN ) -- Nepalis went to the polls Tuesday amid tight security to elect an assembly that will draw up a new constitution . The tiny Himalayan nation has been trying since 2008 to draft a constitution . When it failed to reach any kind of agreement last year , Nepal dissolved its parliament -- paving the way for Tuesday 's vote . The 601-seat constituent assembly will double as the parliament . The army has been called in to help police provide security after an alliance of 33 parties vowed to disrupt polling . Despite fears , officials and reports say that voters turned up in large numbers in the 18,438 polling centers across the country to choose assembly members . About 12 million people are eligible to vote . `` Except in a few places , elections are being held peacefully , '' police spokesman Ganesh K. C. said . In the capital Kathmandu , an 8-year-old boy was injured Tuesday morning when an object he found on the street that he thought was a toy exploded , police said . Earlier reports said that three people had been injured . In Dang district , about 350 kilometres ( 217 miles ) southwest of Kathmandu , three people were arrested with explosives-making materials , K.C . said . The anti-poll alliance called a country-wide transport strike in the runup to the elections . But people largely ignored the call and are voting `` enthusiastically , '' said Election Commission spokesman Bir Bahadur Rai . About two dozen people were injured in several incidents over the last week when petrol bombs were thrown at passenger buses . One person later died of injuries in hospital , police said . No party is expected to win a majority although the Unified Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoist ) and the Nepali Congress will vie to be the largest party . For most of its history , Nepal was a monarchy . The Maoists carried out a 10-year insurgency to abolish that system . The fighting claimed about 15,000 lives before the Maoists signed on to a peace accord in 2006 . Two years later , in 2008 , Nepal held elections for the first time . But since then , lawmakers have not been able to come up with a constitution for the country 's 27 million people . Preliminary results will be available Thursday . But final results will take at least a couple of weeks .
Nepal has been trying to draft a constitution for two years . The 601-seat assembly will double as the parliament . An alliance of 33 parties have vowed to boycott it .