Kathmandu, July 15

A group of lawmakers led by Nepali Congress lawmaker Bal Krishna Khand met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and urged him to ensure that voters could enrol their names in the electoral  rolls from places other than their home districts.

Khand-led team of NC lawmakers included Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Ramhari Khatiwada, Mahendra Yadav and Abdul Razak.

The group also urged the prime minister to extend the deadline for voter registration by 15 days, according to lawmaker Yadav.

The Election Commission has announced that voters can register their names in the electoral rolls within 15 days from today, but they can do so only from their home districts. Voters who register their names in electoral rolls can vote in the provincial and parliamentary elections. Yadav said the EC must allow voters to register their names from places other than home districts or else people who work away from their home or study in the capital could  be disenfranchised.

Yadav said the team suggested increasing the time for voter registration keeping in mind the rainy season. Yadav said the group also told the prime minister to ensure that voters could register their names through all 744 local levels and not only through the election offices in districts.

Yadav said the prime minister told the team that their suggestions were positive and he would try to address their concerns after discussing the matter with the Election Commission.

The NC lawmakers also told the prime minister that Nepali migrant labourers should also be allowed to register their names in Nepali Embassies in foreign countries so that they could vote in Nepal if they were in the country during voting.   This team had met EC officials yesterday and had put forth similar demands.