According to EC spokesman Bir Bahadur Rai, a meeting of the constitutional body held at its central office at Kantipath in the capital on Thursday decided that Nepali citizens who complete 18 years by mid-July this year will be eligible for voting in the upcoming election. [break]
The EC has also decided that eligible citizens can register themselves in the new electoral rolls with photograph and biometrics by July 15.
The EC´s decision came at a time when the Interim Election Council has been urging the major political parties to arrive at consensus on election-related ordinance so that the present government could announce the date for fresh CA polls.
According to Section b of sub-clause 1 of Clause 5 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 2063, a Nepali citizen, who has completed the age of 18 years on or before the last day of the month of Chaitra (around 13 April) in the calendar year immediately preceding the year in which the Electoral Rolls were collected, will be eligible to vote.
Those Nepali citizens who had completed 18 years of age on or before the last day of Mangsir of the year 2063 (Dec 15, 2006) were declared eligible voters in the CA election of 2008.
However, as per the new provision, the EC will set a cutoff date for eligibility to register in the new electoral rolls.
According to EC, 11.6 million voters have been registered in the new electoral rolls so far. The constitutional body had recently deployed mobile teams along with teams fielded by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) across 44 districts in order to register the new voters in the electoral rolls.
MoHA had deployed its mobile teams to distribute citizenship certificates which are mandatory for new voters in order to be registered in new electoral rolls. Altogether 17.6 million voters were registered during the 2008 CA election.
The EC is unable to make all preparations for new elections as the government has yet to approve the ordinance on amending the Election to Members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) Act, 2013.
The government has failed to approve the ordinance as the major four political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- remain sharply divided over the proposed eligibility threshold for CA seat allocations under proportional representation, downsizing the CA to 491 members from the previous 601 members, and candidates´ criminal background.
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