Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Most of the political parties are preparing to submit their closed lists of candidates under the proportional representation (PR) system for the House of Representatives elections to the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday.
According to the election program released by the EC, submission of PR closed lists began on Sunday. Only a few smaller parties completed the process on the first day. Major parties, including the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party (NCP), and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), are scheduled to submit their lists on Monday.
The CPN-UML has decided to submit its PR closed list to the EC on Monday. The decision was taken during a Secretariat meeting held at the party’s central office in Chyasal on Sunday.
UML Deputy General Secretary Lekhraj Bhatta said the meeting endorsed the list prepared by party chair KP Sharma Oli. He added that the list was prepared based on recommendations received from districts and provinces.
The NCP is also preparing to submit its PR closed list on Monday. Party leader Dev Gurung said district-level recommendations were reviewed by provincial committees and forwarded to the central leadership. The central leadership finalized the list based on recommendations received from the party’s lower levels.
Although the Nepali Congress had requested an extension for submitting its PR closed list, the EC has said the deadline cannot be extended. The party is therefore also expected to submit its list on Monday.
RSP, which conducted internal elections to finalize its PR candidates, is expected to change the list to accommodate the names of Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, who formally joined the party on Sunday morning.
According to EC Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, the PR closed lists submitted by the parties will be scrutinised between December 30 and January 4. After scrutiny, political parties will be asked to make necessary corrections from January 5 to 11. The EC will publish the final PR lists on February 3.
A total of 100 political parties have registered to contest the PR election using 93 election symbols.
