KATHMANDU, August 2: Ninety-nine days before the Constituent Assembly (CA) election scheduled for November 19, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday approved the election program for seats under both the proportional representation and the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral systems.
The two-month long election program would start from September 23. The commission has made the election program public at a time when the present technocratic government has been trying to woo disgruntled political parties, including the Mohan Baidya-led 33-party alliance. [break]
According to EC Spokesperson Bir Bahadur Rai, political parties will file nomination under the proportional electoral system on September 23 while the EC will publish name list of political parties on September 24.
As per the election program, political parties that want to withdraw nomination can do so on September 25 and the commission will publish the final lists of parties and allocate them election symbols on September 26.
The political parties should submit closed list of their respective candidates to EC on September 27 though they may correct the list from September 28 to October 4.
According to the election program, political parties should submit the closed lists of their candidates with correction from October 5 to 11. EC will make the closed list of candidates public on October 17.
The commission will provide time for claim and objections regarding qualification of nominated candidates from October 18 to 24 while it will probe claim and objections and take decisions on them from October 25 to 31.
As per the election program, EC will publish a notice about removal of candidates from closed list on November 1, while candidates who want to be removed from the closed list can file applications from November 2 to 8.
The commission will then inform concerned political parties about removal of such candidates from the closed list on November 9.
As per the program, EC will publish the final list of candidates for proportional election system on November 9, while the voting will be held on November 19.
Program for FPTP
Under the first-past-the-post (FPTP), EC will register nomination of candidates on September 26 and will publish the list on September 27.
One can lodge complaint, if any, against nominated candidates on September 28 while the EC will probe on claim and objections and take decision on the issue on September 29.
The commission will publish the name list of nominated candidates on September 30 and those who want to withdraw may urge EC to remove their names from October 1 to 2.
The EC will make the final list of candidates public on October 3 and allocate election symbols to candidates on October 4. Then voters will cast their votes on November 19.
Asked if the constitutional body would register the disgruntled parties, Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica, “If they [disgruntled parties] come for registration by August 20 we will be flexible to accommodate them.”
EC registers 23 more parties
The EC has registered 23 more parties for the upcoming CA polls. The constitutional body on Thursday also allocated election symbols to these parties.
The number of registered political parties has now reached 119. EC on last Wednesday had registered 59 parties and 27 parties last Thursday.
The constitutional body is yet to decide the fate of 20 other political parties that have also applied for registration for the November election.
Asked about the fate of the 20 parties, Uprety said, “They are under the process of registration,” adding, “Some parties are yet to choose election symbols while there others that do not fulfill the criteria for registration.”
Related story
Parties not winning FPTP seats but securing 3% votes eligible f...
