National
EC makes public election calendar for NA polls
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday made public the election calendar for the National Assembly (NA) elections scheduled for February 7.The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday made public the election calendar for the National Assembly (NA) elections scheduled for February 7.
As per the calendar approved by the EC meeting, the voters’ list will be published on January 21 and the final voters’ list will be out on January 23, with one day period set aside for registering complaints against the candidates.
The date of candidate nomination has been set for January 24 while EC will issue election symbols to the parties on January 29.
The NA elections will be conducted from 10 am to 3pm on February 7, according to the EC.
The voters in the National Assembly elections will be Provincial Assembly members and the chiefs and deputy chiefs of local governments. There will be a total of 2,056 voters-550 provincial assembly members and 1,506 chiefs and deputy chiefs of the local level.
According to the Ordinance on National Assembly Elections, the weight of a vote cast by provincial lawmaker is 48 while it is 18 in case of the chiefs and deputy chiefs of local governments.
According to the constitution, the upper house will have 59 members-56 will be elected by an electoral college representing the Provincial Assembly members and chiefs and deputy chiefs of the local governments and the remainder three will be recommended by the President.
According to EC, only 42 members will be elected under the single transferable voting (STV) system while 14 will be directly elected.
Of the eight members to be elected from each province, six including three women will be elected under the STV system while one each from Dalit and disabled or minority communities will be elected through direct voting or first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. As the votes cannot be transferred from one candidate to another for candidates from Dalit and disabled or minority communities due to their single seats, FPTP system will be adopted for their elections.
Road to upper house
Date Schedule
Jan 21 Publish Voters’ list/complaint registration
Jan 23 Publish Final Voters’ list
Jan 24 Candidate Nomination
Jan 25-26 Complaints to be registered against candidates
Jan 27 Decisions to be taken on complaints
Jan 28 Publish the name of the candidates
Jan 29 Withdrawal of candidacy/Publish final candidate list/ Distribution of election symbol
Feb 7 National Assembly elections