KATHMANDU, JULY 6
The Election Commission today recommended that the government should hold federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 18. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya and other commissioners met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today and recommended the date for the polls.
According to a press release issued by the EC, the PM assured the poll panel office bearers that the government would hold the parliamentary and provincial elections around the date recommended by the poll panel. The tenure of the current parliament and provincial assemblies will end on December 8.
The EC said holding polls in a single phase would be cost effective and management of the poll process, such as deployment of employees and transportation of poll materials, would be easier.
Single phase elections will also help bring uniformity in voter education materials.
The poll panel also drew the government's attention towards the use of electronic voting machines in the upcoming polls. The EC told the government to ensure that domestic EVM would meet the specified criteria. In case the government fails to arrange EVM manufactured within the country, EVM manufactured in foreign countries should be imported.
The EC also told the government to provide EVM by mid-August.
EC office bearers told the PM that Rs 10 billion would be required for holding polls. The government had spent Rs 7.8 billion during the last parliamentary and provincial polls.
Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Govinda Bandi, and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki were also present in the meeting.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
