Voting for National Assembly underway

Bhisma Raj Ojha
KATHMANDU, Feb 7: Voting is taking place from 10 am to 3 pm today under the election to the member of National Assembly, the Upper House of the federal parliament.

Chief Election Commissioner Dr Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has urged the voters to participate in the election without any inhibitions as the government has made reliable security arrangements for the same.

The election to the member of the National Assembly is taking place in six provinces today as all the NA members from Province-2 have been elected unopposed before this.

Twenty four members have already been elected unopposed in all the provinces.

Fifty-two candidates are vying for 32 seats of National Assembly member in the election today.

A total of 1,677 voters including 1,234 local level officials and 443 Province Assembly members of the six provinces are taking part in the election.

The Election Commission said voting will take place at the Office of the Chief Returning Officer in six provinces. The office of the chief returning officer has been established at the places where the High Court of each province is located.

The polling stations have been set up at the public places near to the Office of the Chief Returning Officer in Biratnagar (Province 1), Patan, Lalitpur (Province 3), Pokhara (Province 4), Dang (Province 5), Surkhet (Province 6) and Doti (Province 7).

Arrangements have been made for having two voting booths at every polling station. The Province Assembly members will cast their votes at a separate booth while the local level officials at the next booth.

There will be four separate ballot papers of green and red colours. The weightage of the Province Assembly members’ vote will be 48 while the same of the local level officials would be 18.

The National Assembly has 59 members. Out of them, 56 members are elected by the electoral college at the rate of eight members, including at least three women, one dalit and one person from among the disabled or minority communities, from each province. The President nominates three members including at least one woman to the National Assembly at the recommendation of the government.

The electoral college is made of total 2,056 voters including 1,506 mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, and chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the rural municipalities. The rest of the electorates are the 550 members of the Province Assembly of all the seven provinces.