BHISMARAJ OJHA, KATHMANDU, Oct 23: Dolaka, a part of Province No. 3, at the top in terms of the registration of candidacies (first-past-the-post system) for the first phase of elections to the House of Representatives and State Assemblies scheduled for coming November 26.

The lowest candidacy is from Manang, the district beyond the Himalayas, which lies in Province No. 4.

The Election Commission had fixed October 22 as the date for filing the candidacies for the nearing twin elections under the first- past-the-post-system.

In the first phase, the House of Representatives election is taking place in 37 electoral constituencies and the State Assemblies election is being held in 74 constituencies of 32 districts, out of 77.

According to the EC, 42 candidates have submitted their papers from Dolakha that is sending one member to the center (House of Representatives) and two to the State Assembly. Of them, 16 are towards the House of Representatives while candidacies for remaining 24 are for the State Assembly.

Likewise, in Manang that has been allocated one constituency for the federal parliament elections and two for the State Assembly, two have filed their nominations for the center and five for the State Assembly.

Dolakha is followed by Ramechhap in terms of the number of candidates aspiring to compete for the elections. For one seat in the House of Representatives, 14 candidacies have been registered while 22 have filed nominations for two seats in the State Assembly.

Mustang, the neighboring district of Manang, has witnessed the registration of lowest candidacies after Manang. Two have filed candidacies for one seat in the House of Representatives and six for the State Assembly that has two electoral constituencies.

According to the Election Commission, altogether 807 people have filed their candidacy for the first phase of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies elections to be held on November 26. The first phase of the twin elections is taking place in 32 districts in all seven provinces.

Of the total 807 persons filing candidacies, 323 have registered their candidacy for the House of Representatives election and 484 for the State Assembly elections.

The Election Commission has fixed the time from 10 am to 5 pm today to file complaints against the candidates. The complaints would be investigated upon and the list of candidates published on October 24. Similarly, the EC will allocate election symbols to the candidates after the conclusion of withdrawing their names by the candidates, if they wish to do so, on October 25.

The first phase of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies election is taking place in 32 mountainous and high hill districts on November 26. Likewise, the second phase election would take place in 45 districts of the Tarai-Madhes and hilly region on December 7.

The date for registering the nominations of candidacy for the second phase election is on November 2.

Election will take place for the 275-member House of Representatives which includes 165 members towards the first-past-the-post and 110 members towards the proportional representation system as per the Constitution of Nepal. Similarly, the election will also be held for the combined 550-member State Assemblies including 330 members under the first-past–the-post and 220 under the PR system.

Three million 228 thousand 879 voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase elections on November 26.

KATHMANDU, Oct 3: The Election Commission is to start printing the ballot paper for the proportional representation system under the election to the member of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies from today. The election is taking place on November 26 and December 7, 2017.

EC spokesman Nawaraj Dhakal said the human resources required for the management of the printing of ballot papers has been already assigned by the Election Commission. The ballot papers are being printed at the Janak Education Materials Centre Ltd at Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, under tight security cordon.

The upper half of the ballot paper will have the election symbols of the election to the members of House of Representatives while the lower half of the same ballot paper will have the election symbols of the election to the members of the State Assemblies.

Although the number of voters for the twin elections has not been fixed, nearly 18 million ballot papers of light red colour for proportional election system would be printed, EC spokesman Dhakal said, adding that the number of voters would be ascertained in few days.

The EC has already published the election schedule for the proportional election system according to which the political parties are required to submit the closed list of their candidates under the proportional election system on October 15. The Election Commission has assigned the election symbols to the political parties which have registered themselves at the Commission for the purpose of participating in the proportional system.

The number of political parties contesting under the proportional system in the election to the member of State Assembly in Province 1 is 87, in Province 2 and 3 it is 86 each, in Province 4 and 6 it is 82 each, in Province 5 it is 84 while in Province 7 it is 83.

The EC will manage seven different kinds of ballot papers in the election to the members of the State Assemblies in accordance with the participation of the political parties. The printing of the ballot papers under the proportional system will be concluded by October 25.

The Election Commission plans to start printing the ballot papers under the first-past-the-post election to the members of the House of Representatives and the State Assemblies immediately after the printing of the ballot papers under the proportional system is over.

According to spokesman Dhakal, the EC has also approved the sample of the ballot paper for the forthcoming elections which it believes would be voter-friendly and easier for the voters. He said this sample was prepared based on the experience from the local level election.

It is stated that the EC has managed 600 tones paper for printing the ballot paper.

Likewise, the Commission has expedited works related to training, orientation, deputation of employees and staff, and management of 64 various types of election materials required for the forthcoming elections.

The EC is engaged in the final preparation for formulating the legislations and guidelines related to the elections. It is learnt that around 200 thousand employees excluding the security forces will have to be mobilized for conducting the twin elections.

EC is also planning to hold an intensive discussion with the political parties to conduct the election to the members of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies in a free, fair and fear-free environment.

Two hundred and seventy-five members including 165 through the first-past-the-post and 110 through the proportional system would be elected to the House of Representatives while a total 330 members towards the first-past-the-post and 229 towards the proportional system would be elected to the State Assemblies. RSS