KATHMANDU, Jan 3: The Election Commission (EC) has begun procuring 51 types of materials required for the election of members to the House of Representatives (HoR), scheduled for March 5. Of the total materials, 37 types will be procured by district election offices and delivered to polling stations.
The EC has already issued directives to district offices for this purpose. The remaining 14 types of election materials will be procured centrally by the EC and dispatched to polling stations.
According to EC Assistant Spokesperson Prakash Neupane, procuring the 37 types of materials will cost around Rs 180 million. Items such as punching machines, cloth, and stickers marked for internal and external use will be arranged by district election offices. Meanwhile, ballot papers, ballot boxes, voter rolls, sealing wax, markers, pencils, and stamps will be procured by the EC. Neupane said the procurement process has already been initiated.
In pictures: Dispatching materials for Ilam election
This time, the EC will not purchase new ballot boxes or paper for printing ballot papers. EC officials said sufficient ballot boxes and paper are already in stock. According to the EC, a total of 75,000 ballot boxes are required for the election, all of which are available. Neupane said all election materials, including voter rolls, will be dispatched to polling stations by the first week of Falgun.
Printing of voter rolls begins
The EC has also started printing voter rolls. Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari inaugurated the process on Friday. The EC said election preparations have been intensified nationwide.
Under the proportional representation system, 58 election symbols will appear on the ballot paper, while 107 symbols will be used under the first-past-the-post system. A total of 102 political parties will contest the election using separate symbols. The EC has allocated 107 election symbols to various parties.
The EC allowed parties to select their election symbols during the registration process and said preferred symbols were provided wherever possible. Alternative symbols were assigned only in cases of overlapping claims. Established parties have retained symbols they previously used.
For the HoR election, 114 political parties have been registered with the EC. The EChas approved all 114 applications to contest the election. Applications from 13 parties were rejected for various reasons. Currently, 143 parties are registered with the EC, of which 114 will participate in the election.
