Constitutional amendment is required to increase the number of seats in the Constituent Assembly (CA) from 491 to 601. “The government had assured EC of constitutional amendment by today (Wednesday),” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica. He said the delay in amending the interim constitution has affected printing of voter education materials, including posters, booklets, among others. [break]
According to EC officials, it will take the commission at least a week to print voter education materials.
The High Level Political Committee (HLPC) and the Ashok Rai-led Federal Socialist Party on Friday had agreed to retain a 601-strong CA while HLPC and the Federal Democratic Front, an alliance of eight political parties, including the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, had earlier forged consensus on a 585-member CA.
However, as per the existing constitutional provisions, CA can have 491members only.
“EC does not officially know whether it will hold election for 491 or 601-member CA,” said an EC official requesting anonymity.
Komal Dhamala, executive director of Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC) at the Election Commission (EC), said the commission will deploy 15,000 volunteers for voter education across the country from September 20.
EC has said the voter education program this time around would be different from that of the 2008 CA election.
The commission has already decided to use glue digital display, sign boards, SMS and social networks for voter education. These were not used during the last CA election.
The commission has also decided to carry out voter education in about 17 major languages.
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