KATHMANDU, Jan 9: In view of the upcoming local elections, the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday asked the political parties and their district offices to provide details about their existence and interests to contest the polls by the end of January.
Issuing a press statement, the EC has urged the parties to provide details to its district election offices. The EC has sought details about office bearers of the party and contact person for correspondence.
The details, according to the EC, were sought from all parties and district election commissions were asked to update EC on time. The EC will note down the names of the parties interested in contesting the local elections in order to finalize the actual number of parties.
EC Commissioner Ila Sharma said the details will be useful for election preparations mainly to finalize the size of ballot papers.
The EC is worried whether the ballot papers can be printed by the existing printing machines of Janak Siksha Samagri Kendra from where the ballot papers are being printed till date. Currently, 110 political parties are registered with the EC and the election body believes the ballot paper could be longer than three feet even if just 50 parties participate in the elections.
The election body, which has already ruled out the possibility of holding local elections in April, says the polls could take place between May to June if the government comes up with a clear policy, timeframe and understanding among major political parties in time.
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