KATHMANDU, Feb 2: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has said that the Election Commission is going to put in place legal provisions to make it mandatory for every political party to field at least 33 percent women candidates under the First Past The Post (FPTP) system in the House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Concern and Coordination Committee under the National Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya said that a new bill related to elections is being prepared. He added that such an arrangement will come into implementation in the new cycle of election.
Homework underway to make 33 percent women candidates mandatory...
Thapaliya also said that the bill being prepared by the commission will be forwarded after the election of the president and vice president. CEC Thapaliya said that necessary preparations are being made to submit the election-related bill to parliament by mid-April.
Thapaliya said that the provision that allows voters to cast their votes only in their constituencies is being amended and new provisions are being introduced in the bill so as to allow security personnel, journalists and others who are on the voters’ list to cast vote for proportional elections.
CEC Thapaliya said that among the mayor and deputy mayor or chairman and vice-chairman, at least one should be mandatorily a woman at the local level and if a party has nominated only one candidate, it should be a woman as per the proposed bill.
He said that provisions are being made so that at least one-third of the candidates for ward chairpersons fielded by any party are women. CEC Thapaliya said that the provision to give a 50 percent discount on the security deposit to the financially poor and disabled persons is also included in the bill. He also added that the commission needs to further increase the collection of voter lists.
