EC completes preparations for Sunday’s National Assembly elections

KATHMANDU: The Election Commission (EC) has said that all preparations for the National Assembly elections scheduled for Sunday have been completed.

Speaking at the regular press briefing in Kathmandu on Friday, EC Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that all necessary arrangements for the voting had already been finalised. He added that the nomination of candidates, the filing of claims and objections, the review of complaints, the publication of the final list of candidates, and the distribution of election symbols had all been completed.

Ballot papers for the election have already been dispatched to the offices of the concerned election officers, Bhattarai said.

The National Assembly comprises 57 members — eight elected from each of the seven provinces and three nominated by the President on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. One-third of its members complete their six-year term every two years.

Nineteen members of the upper house are completing their six-year terms on March 4. Eighteen vacant positions will be filled through voting, while the President will appoint one remaining member on the recommendation of the Cabinet. Of the 18 positions to be filled through voting, one candidate — Sunil Sharma of the Nepali Congress (NC) — has already been elected unopposed.

According to the election programme published by the EC, voting will take place on Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm at designated polling centres in the respective provinces.

Members of provincial assemblies, and chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units, are eligible voters in the National Assembly elections.

According to Assistant EC Spokesperson Kul Bahadur GC, the names of some provincial assembly members and chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units who resigned to contest the House of Representatives elections have been removed from the voter list.