Newly sworn-in NA members not eligible to cast vote in Presidential election

KATHMANDU, March 9: National Assembly members Dr Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Dr Bimala Poudel will not be eligible to cast vote in the Presidential election since the Election Commission has already published the final name list of voters on March 6 in this connection.

Name of three NA members nominated by the President at the recommendation of the government and Rajeev Gurung, a member of House of Representatives, has not been included in the list of voters, so they could not cast vote in this situation, according to the EC.

Khatiwada, Bidari and Poudel were sworn-in as the NA members earlier today after the Supreme Court paved way for them to take oath.

The Electoral College comprising of 880 NA members, members of House of Representatives and provincial Assemblies are the voters in the presidential election.

However, a meeting of the office-bearers of the EC has the right to make some decisions regarding removing obstacle in case written information was received from the Secretariat of Federal Parliament in this regard, said EC Spokesperson Nabaraj Dhakal.