The Election Commission is preparing to hold the National Assembly polls for one third of its lawmakers on January 25 next year.

A team led by Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya is meeting Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal with the proposal on Friday to recommend the election date.

The term of 19 members of the upper house including its Chairperson Ganesh Timilsina expires on March 3.

“It is a legal compulsion to submit the final result of the elections to the President by January 29, 2024. Therefore, the commission is proposing January 25 as the election date,” Thapaliya told the Post. “However, it is up to the government to announce the election date.”

The government announces the election dates based on the commission’s recommendation. Thapaliya said if the elections are held on January 25, the results will be out by the next day. That will give two days—January 27 and 28—for the commission to prepare the report and submit it to the President on January 29.

Terms of the members of the present National Assembly were determined by drawing lots—for two years, four years and six years. The tenure of the first lot of 19 lawmakers ended on March 4, 2020 while the second lot retired on March 4 last year. The previous elections were held on January 26, 2022. The upcoming elections are being held to elect the lawmakers who had six years of tenure by drawing lots.

The country’s upper house has 59 members. Of them, 56 are elected, and three are nominated by the President on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. Each of the seven provinces elects eight members including women and representatives from marginalised communities and those with disabilities.

An electoral college composed of members of the provincial assembly and chairperson/mayor and vice-chairperson/deputy mayor of local units within the province elects the members of the upper house.

Earlier, each provincial assembly member's vote had a weight of 48 whereas each chairperson/mayor/vice-chairperson/deputy mayor's vote carried a weight of 18. However, with the results of the national census 2021 out, the commission has also revised the vote weightages.

As per the commission's decision on Wednesday, the new weightage for a vote of provincial assembly members would be 53 and 19 for the chief or deputy chief at the local units.

The weightage of each vote of provincial assembly members is ascertained by dividing the total population by the total number of provincial assembly members and further dividing the number by 1000. Similarly, the weightage of chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units is calculated by dividing the country's total population by 1000 and further dividing it by twice the number of local units.

As many as 549 provincial assembly members and 1,504 chiefs and their deputies of the local units are eligible for voting. One position each of a provincial assembly member, chairperson and vice-chairperson of rural municipalities are lying vacant.

The commission is planning to hold the elections in these vacant positions in April next year.