KATHMANDU, APRIL 23
Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya today said a favourable situation had to be created for introducing electronic voting machines in the upcoming local polls or for future polls.
Speaking at a daily press briefing today, Thapaliya said EVM was the best option mainly because transporting election materials and printing thousands of types of ballot papers were challenging for the EC.
Stating that the polls panel had completed preparations for the May 13 local polls, Thapaliya said the EC needed to print 6,743 types of ballot papers as there were 6,743 ward offices in 753 local levels. Thapaliya said the polls panel would dispatch ballot papers to all destinations by May 2. EC will deploy a team of polling officers to each polling station by May 9. He said the EC would take a decision about the use of social networking sites on election issues tomorrow.
Candidates will file nomination papers tomorrow and day after from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
CEC Thapaliya said the EC was thinking of giving only 11 days to candidates to campaign. Thapaliya said the EC had asked the local administration to ensure that two political parties did not converge at election offices to file nomination papers as that could lead to confrontation. He said the local administration could ensure that only one political party went to the election office at a time to file nomination papers.
The EC issued a press release clarifying the need to give two days to candidates and political parties to file nomination papers keeping in mind that a huge number of nomination papers could be filed. The EC said that in last local elections, 860 candidates filed their nomination papers in Kathmandu metropolis followed by 703 in Biratnagar metropolis and 1,125 in Birgunj Metropolitan City.
The EC reminded political parties to respect the constitutional provision that ensures inclusive representation of all communities, including women. It hoped that the political parties would fully abide by the election code of conduct.
The EC warned parties not to violate the poll code of conduct or else they would be punished for such violations.
The EC said that if anybody wore cap, T-shirt or any materials depicting any political parties' flags or symbol, the person would be punished for poll code violation.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 24, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
