The Election Commission (EC) has started updating voters’ list in 21 mountain and high hill districts in the first phase.

According to the EC, work to update voters’ list in these 21 districts started on Friday.

The EC plans to start updating the list in remaining 54 districts from December in the second phase.

When asked whether disputes among political parties over some issues prevented the EC from carrying out voters’ list update across the country in simultaneously, Gopinath Mainali, secretary at the EC, said: “We don’t have adequate budget and human resource to carry out the task in all districts.”

According to him, the EC faces a budget deficit of Rs 80 million, as it also has to prepare the final list of all the districts after updating the voters’ list. The EC has sought additional budget from the Ministry of Finance, according to the official. Hence, the EC said, it opted to update the voters’ list in two phases.

“We are updating the list in mountain and high hill districts in the first phase because many parts of these districts will be covered with snow during peak winter,” he said.

The EC is updating voters’ list after a gap of three years. The last time the list the EC updated the list was in 2013 before the second Constituent Assembly elections.

However, voters’ registration at election offices in the districts is carried out on all working days.

Those who have attained the voting age by mid-October will be included in the voters’ list for now so that they could vote during the local level elections announced for March-April.

As many people will become eligible to vote before two more elections are held by January 2018, they will be adjusted accordingly, according to the EC.

The EC is planning to complete its job of the first phase by first week of December.

Work in progress

-    Taplejung

-    Sankhuwasbha

-    Solukhumbu

-    Dolakha

-    Sindhupalchok

-    Rasuwa

-    Dhading

-    Gorkha

-    Manang

-    Mustang

-    Baglung

-    Rukum

-    Jajarkot

-    Bajhang

-    Bajura

-    Darchula

-    Kalikot

-    Jumla

-    Humla

-    Dolpa 

-    Mugu