The Election Commission on Sunday asked the political parties to register themselves centrally for participation in the local level elections scheduled for May 14.

Although the EC enrolled the parties for elections in the districts recently, it asked them again to be enlisted at the commission’s head office in Kathmandu by Wednesday.

Only the parties registered in the districts earlier can be registered this time, a move that is expected to bring down their number.

In the districts, 45 parties were registered in Kathmandu while the lowest number was six in Manang, according to a notice issued on January 8. “We thought it better to ask the parties to register once again although the earlier registration would be enough,” said EC Secretary Gopinath Mainali.

A total of 111 political parties have been registered with the EC to carry out political activities. Article 269 of the constitution says only the listed parties must register themselves with the EC for participation in the election.

The parties have to submit details including their name, number of central committee members, organisational structure and annual audit report.

Meanwhile, the poll authority has fined 30 parties Rs100 each for not submitting their audit reports. As many as 11 parties failed to submit clarifications on time regarding the delays while the EC did not find the reasons given by 19 parties justifiable so all of them were fined.