National
45 districts go to polls today
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ayodhee Prasad Yadav on Wednesday called on all to participate in the second phase of House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections on Thursday.Prithvi Man Shrestha
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ayodhee Prasad Yadav on Wednesday called on all to participate in the second phase of House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections on Thursday.
Voters in 45 districts will exercise their franchise on Thursday to elect 128 HoR and 256 PA members.
First phase elections were held in 32 districts on November 26.
The completion of the second phase of elections will ensure a federal parliament at the centre and provincial assemblies in seven provinces as envisioned by the new constitution adopted in 2015.
Since local elections have already been held, the country will have three layers of governance as envisioned by the constitution after Thursday’s elections.
Those having their names on voter roll can cast their votes from 7am to 5pm.
Those who have names on the voter roll but have not been able to collect their voter IDs can cast their ballots by showing the IDs issued for local elections and Constituent Assembly polls or citizenship certificate, passport, driving licence, land ownership certificate or any other valid identity card with photo issued by government agencies, according to the Election Commission.
The EC has arranged three sets of ballot papers—green for first-past-the-post (FPTP) candidates for the federal parliament, black for the FPTP candidates for provincial assemblies and light red for proportional representation (PR) system for both the federal parliament and provincial assemblies. Amid concerns over security threats in the wake of rising incidents of blast, the EC on Wednesday said the government has put adequate security measures in place and urged all to exercise their franchise without fear.
“The Election Commission calls on all eligible voters to take part in the elections to convey a strong message to those who are against the implementation of the constitution as well as political stability in the country,” CEC Yadav said.
CEC Yadav said the EC is expecting the voter turnout to cross the 70 percent mark in the second phase of elections. Voter turnout in the first phase of polls hovered near 65 percent. The EC has also urged parties and candidates to extend help in safely transporting ballot boxes to the Office of chief election officers and election officers at the district headquarters. Counting of votes of the first phase of elections will start soon after the second phase polls are completed.
The EC has said it has made arrangements in such a way that it would complete counting of FPTP votes in four days and PR votes in eight days.
According to the EC, four separate teams will count FPTP and PR votes. Each vote counting team comprising seven members will work round the clock in three shifts. A team is expected to count 3,000 votes during its eight-hour shift.