Leaders of the 124 parties, including Nepali Congress (NC), UCPN (Maoist), CPN-UML, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), MPRF-Democratic, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhawana Party, arrived at the EC central office at Kantipath to file the applications of their respective parties. [break]
According to EC officials involved in the registration process, most of the political parties deposited Rs 10,000 in cash while others produced cash vouchers, for filing their applications.
Six of the parties--Rastriya Punarjagaran Party, Rastriya Tharu Samaj Ekata Party, Rastriya Bikas Party, Samyukta Rastriya Jana Parishad Nepal, Garib Janatako Kranti Party and Rastriya Ekata Manch--which did not file applications Monday, will now be unable to participate under the proportional electoral system.
“However, they can participate under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system,” said EC Spokesman Bir Bahadur Rai.
Rai said that political parties should submit closed lists of their candidates under the proportional system on October 4.
During the 2008 CA poll, 54 political parties had participated and 25 of them were elected.
Asked where the EC had reached in the electoral process, an EC official requesting anonymity said, “The EC has moved far ahead since today [Monday].”
As per the calendar of events, the EC will publish the names of political parties that are to participate under the proportional system, on Tuesday.
It will publish a final list of parties participating under proportional system on Thursday and also allocate the election symbols the same day.
The EC will ask political parties to make corrections, if any, in the lists of candidates, on October 5.
As per the election calendar, political parties should submit amended closed lists on October 16 and the EC will make the final lists public on October 23.
One can file compliants against the eligibility of nominated candidates on October 24, and the commission will decide such issues on October 31.
The EC will issue a notice on November 7 regarding removal of candidates from the closed lists, while candidates who want to withdraw can file applications to that effect on November 8.
The commission will inform the political parties about the withdrawal of candidate names, on November 15 and publish the final lists the same day.
EC officials have said that the commission will begin to print the ballot papers for the proportional system from October 5. They will print 15 million ballot papers for the proportional system.
The size of the ballot paper for the proportional electoral system will be larger than the last time as the number of political parties has increased significantly compared to the CA election of 2008.
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