Kathmandu, July 27

The Election Commission today decided to start registering voters from the City Hall in Kathmandu from tomorrow.

EC Spokesperson Surya Prasad Sharma said those who were yet to register their names on the electoral roll could do so from the City Hall from tomorrow. “We will deploy more than 10 separate teams to register voters,” said Sharma, adding that the polls panel had already deployed several teams in various wards of Kathmandu Metropolitan City to register voters.

According to Sharma, the teams deployed by District Election Office, Kathmandu, were insufficient to register all the voters.

“In the past, people were unwilling to register themselves even when we sent teams for voter registration,” he said, adding, “But this time, the number of people seeking registration is so high that we had to make additional arrangement.”

According to Sharma, anyone residing in Kathmandu Valley could register their name on the electoral roll from district election offices as well as from the City Hall of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

The EC has decided to continue voter registration programmes from district and regional offices until the election date is announced. It has also decided to open out-district registration in all its district and regional offices. Out-district registration would allow voters to register themselves on the electoral roll from districts other than their home districts. This provision will benefit people who work or study outside their home districts.

Earlier, the EC had asked voters to register their names from July 16 to July 30 only from its district and regional offices. However, the polls panel withdrew its earlier decision and decided to register voters from all 744 local levels from July 31 to August 16.

Major political parties had pressed the election body to rethink its decision to update voter list only from its district and regional offices.

Meanwhile, the EC has proposed to amend the Electoral Rolls Act-2017, which bars it from registering voters after the announcement of election date.