Preparations reach final stage for March 5 election, says Nepal Election Commission

Kathmandu, Feb 26 (PTI) Nepal’s Election Commission on Thursday said the preparations for the March 5 House of Representatives election has reached the final stage with all the election material reaching 165 constituencies across the country.

Around 41.15 million ballot papers, both for first past the post (FPTP) or direct election and proportionate voting system, have reached all 165 constituencies in all 77 districts across the country, said Election Commission (EC) spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai.

The EC said voters’ education programmes, being conducted in all 753 local level bodies across the country since February 15, will be completed on March 1.

Political parties had officially launched their election campaign from February 16, which will continue till March 2. The Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee along with other concerned bodies are actively carrying out election monitoring work.

The EC has already instructed political parties and candidates to make their election campaign in a “modest and civilised manner”.

Speaking at an interaction programme in Kathmandu, acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari has said that the commission is committed towards conducting the upcoming election in a free, fair and reliable manner and the election preparation works have reached its final stage.

The government has announced a three-day holiday starting from March 4 to encourage participation of voters.

Nepal is set to hold the House of Representatives elections on March 5, the first since last year's deadly Gen-Z protests that toppled the K P Sharma Oli-led coalition government.

More than 18.9 million eligible voters will exercise their voting rights, which starts at 7 am and concludes at 5 pm.

The EC has said that the results under the direct voting system will be announced within 24 hours after the collection of all the ballot boxes.

During the HoR election, altogether 275 Parliament members, 165 under direct voting and 110 under proportionate voting system, will be elected.

The government has arranged full-proof security under the coordination of Nepal Army by deploying more than 330,000 security personnel. PTI SBP GSP GSP