KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 28

The Election Commission will use the modified Sainte-Laguë method for allocating PR seats to all the political parties that meet the threshold - three per cent PR votes and one first-past-thepost seat. In this formula, the parties that don't secure three per cent PR votes and one FPTP seat are excluded from the seat division formula.

According to Central Bureau of Statistics Director Devendra Karanjit, who is an expert on Sainte-Laguë method, while allocating PR seats to political parties,total party votes, are divided by a sequence of odd numbers starting with 1 (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and so on) until enough quotients are found to allocate all 110 House of Representatives and 220 provincial assemblies' seats.

The 110 and 220 highest numbers thus obtained will determine both the number of seats for each partyand the order in which they are allocated in the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies, respectively.

Karanjit said any party that crosses the three per cent PR vote threshold would win at least three seats in the House of Representatives.

But in the case of provincial assemblies, since the threshold is only 1.5 per cent PR votes, parties securing 1.5 per cent vote may not win a seat in the provincial assembly.

In case of the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist), which has won 10 parliamentary seats, but is struggling to cross the three per cent vote threshold, many have expressed doubtwhether its lawmakers will have to follow party whip or can behave like independent lawmakers.

If a party fails to become a national party due to its failure to secure an FPTP seat and three per cent PR votes, the party can still issue whips to its lawmakers, who will be commanded by party chiefs and parliamentary party leader, said Senior Advocate Chandra Kanta Gyawali.

'Many people are confused about the status of a political party which does not get three per cent PR votes. If a party wins two or more than two seats, that party can form its parliamentary party, appoint whips, and issue whips to its lawmakersthat will be binding on them, 'Gyawali added.

He said if a lawmaker of such a party violates the party whip, the party can take punitive action against them, he said.

This means that even if a political party fails to become a national party, its lawmakers will have to follow the party's whip, be it on no-trust motion, gov-ernment's policies and programme, fiscal budget, or any other national or public importance issue, according to Section 28 of the Political Party Act. Section 24 of the Political Part Act stipulates that any party that has won at least two seats in the House of Representatives or provincial assemblies can form a parliamentary party. If lawmakers of the party that is not a national party do not obey party whip, the party can expel them, Gyawali said.

He said the only drawback of not being a national party is that such a party may not be eligible to get government grants and in the next elections, the Election Commission may allot a different election symbol to it.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.