KATHMANDU, Oct 26: Nearly 100 candidates have withdrawn their candidacy on Wednesday, the deadline given to candidates for withdrawing their names for first round of parliamentary and provincial elections slated for November 26.

 With this, a total of 702 candidates will be contesting for the first round of parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for November 26.
Of the total candidates, 481 are vying for provincial assembly seats and 322 for central parliament.

The EC is conducting first round of polls in 37 election constituencies of 32 districts. The first phase of elections will elect 37 members of central parliament and 74 members for provincial assembly.

“A total of 97 candidates have withdrawn their names. We will make public the final name list of the poll contesting individuals soon,” said EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal. 
Spokesperson Dhakal said poll symbols were given to both the candidates of political parties and independents soon after the candidates withdrew their nominations within the given deadline. 

“Now, they can fully engage in poll campaigns using their election symbols,” said Dhakal. 

Dissatisfied with the official candidates of their parties, some leaders of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) had filed their candidacy for the central parliamentary and provincial assembly elections independently. But, most of the disgruntled leaders withdrew their candidacy at the eleventh hours following pressure from their respective political parties. 

After two influential left parties - UML and Maoist Center -forged an electoral alliance against the right alliance comprising of NC and Rastriya Prajantra Party among others, many aspiring candidates had filed their candidacy as a protest against the recently forged poll alliances. 

The EC scrapped the candidacy of Laxman Bishwakarma, a candidate of Janasamajbadi Party, for not meeting the criteria set by the election body. Bishwakarma had filed his candidacy for provincial assembly elections.

Meanwhile, the board meeting of the Election Commission (EC) has decided to incorporate two ballot papers into one. The decision is in line with the Supreme Court’s recent verdict, which refused to issue a stay order against the writ petition seeking separate ballot papers for provincial and parliamentary polls. 

The court had refrained from issuing the stay order, arguing that the election body could itself give due consideration to the issue at a time when the printing of ballot papers for part of the elections has already started.

Senior leader of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) Sarvendra Nath Shukla had filed the writ petition on October 8, demanding separate ballot papers for provincial and parliamentary polls so that voters would not be confused. 

When the case landed at the apex court, the EC pleaded that it would not be possible to hold the polls on the scheduled dates of November 26 and December 7 in case the court issued an order to print separate ballot papers. The EC would require printing 70 million ballot papers and arranging additional election material such as ballot boxes and poll screens in a short span of time - something that the EC has ruled out categorically - had the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioner.

 
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