KATHMANDU, Jan 5: The Election Commission has set the date of candidacy nomination for the upper house election for Sunday. 

Political parties willing to contest the upper house elections are asked to file their candidacy from provincial headquarters. 

Chief judges of the districts where provincial capitals are situated have been named as the chief returning officers and their respective offices will be used for the election.

“The poll contesting parties should file their nominations in their respective provincial capitals from 10 am to 3 pm Sunday,” said Election Commissioner Ishwari Prasad Paudyal.

In view of the polls, two major political parties—Nepal Communist Party and Nepali Congress have already announced their candidates for the election. Both the parties have forged electoral alliance in an attempt to counter each other. 

NCP and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) have reached an understanding to support each other in the election to counter the rival alliance of NC and Samajbadi Party. 

The Election Commission is holding the election on January 23 to elect 18 upper house members. The terms of 19 incumbent members are expiring on March 3.

Among them, 18 members will be elected from the political parties. As per the constitution, the president will nominate one member on her own.

Previously, the upper house members were elected through a single transferable voting system. Out of the 59 seats in the upper house, NCP had then secured 42 seats, including three nominated by the president.

Among the 59 members in the upper house, 19 have a tenure of two years, 20 have four-year tenures and the rest have six years, according to upper house regulations.

Among the 19 outgoing members, nine are from the NCP, seven from Nepali Congress, two from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal and one from Samajbadi Party.

This time, the EC is electing the members on a majority basis. NCP, which commands majority in the local and provincial assemblies, is likely to bag most of the upper house seats in the election. 

In a bid to counter NC-led alliance, it has fielded 16 candidates whereas the party has pledged to support two candidates from RJPN. 

Provincial assembly members and the chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units will cast their votes to elect the new upper house members. According to the EC, a total of 2056 voters will cast their votes in the January 23 election.

 
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