KATHMANDU, Jan 30: The Election Commission (EC) has fixed the date for the election of the president and vice president. 

The EC has announced it will hold the presidential election on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17.

EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel said the process to elect a new vice president will begin after the election of the president on March 9. He said that although the EC has made necessary arrangements to hold voting in all seven provinces, it is not immediately possible to hold the election outside Kathmandu. 

Sharma said the EC has made a schedule for the publication of the voters’ list for the presidential election on February 22. The EC said that the final voters’ list will be published on February 23 and the candidates’ nomination paper will be registered on February 24.

Similarly, the list of registered candidates will be published on the evening of February 25 and the complaints against the candidates can be filed till February 26, while the EC will investigate the complaints and take a decision on those complaints on February 26 and 27.

The final list of candidates will be published on February 28 after considering the applications to withdraw their names. The voting for the election to the president will be held on March 9.

Similarly, the election of the vice president will be held on March 17. EC Spokesperson Paudel said the final voters’ list prepared for the presidential election will be applicable for the election to the vice president as well. 

According to Sharma, the registration of nomination papers for the election of the vice president will be held on March 11 and the list of candidates whose nomination papers have been registered will be published on the same day. 

Similarly, complaints can be filed against the candidates on March 12 and the EC is scheduled to scrutinize and decide on the complaints and publish the final list of candidates on the same day.

Poudel said that the EC has made necessary arrangements to ensure that the five-year term of the new president and vice president is not reduced in the spirit of the constitution. President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s tenure is ending on March 12. 

 
• EC
 
• elections
 
• President