With the government’s announcement on Sunday to hold the local polls in two phases, eyes are set on the Election Commission (EC) regarding its handling of the logistical and security challenges in conducting the election in two phases.

While the election body has not formally reacted to the government decision, the latest development means it may have to make changes to voters’ identity cards, voters’ lists and ballot papers. 

Given the understanding reached between the government and the Madhesi parties, more local units will be added in 11 districts of Province 2 and 5, which will require the EC to change voters’ IDs and voters’ lists as per new address and name of the added local units.

That will add time and costs increase after Voters’ ID Cards and Voters’ List are reprinted by adjusting them as per the added local units. Printing voter ID costs 

Rs 9 a card, the EC said.

The EC might have to reprint ballot papers after six Madhes-centric parties unified to become the Rastriya Janata Party on Thursday.

The election body has already completed printing of 16 million ballot papers and voter IDs considering that the elections would be held on May 14. It had already sent ballot papers out to various districts. 

Election Commissioner Sudheer Shah, however, ruled out printing new ballot papers to accommodate the new party’s election symbol. “They [RJP] can contest the elections with election symbols given to one of the merged parties,” said Shah.

Under a provision of the Local Level Election Act, order of partys’ symbols will be arranged as per the number of votes they obtained under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system in the last Constituent Assembly (CA) elections held in 2013. It means, the symbol of the Nepali Congress will appear on top in ballot papers. 

But the RJP, which has become the fifth largest force in Parliament with 25 seats, may not get an election symbol as per the combined votes the six parties had garnered in the last CA elections under the PR system. 

During a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday, EC officials expressed their inability to provide the election symbol to the new party. The EC also made it clear that it was not in a position to conduct fresh voters’ registrations saying that it would affect current preparations for the local elections. The one-month gap between the first phase and the second phase has also created dilemma over the vote counting. 

The Local Level Election Act has authorised the election officer to fix the location and time of vote counting after receiving all ballot boxes used for the polls. “But providing security to the ballot boxes at the local level for a month is risky and challenging,” said former election commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung. “It also complicates the security arrangements for the second phase of elections.”

Even if the ballot boxes are brought to district headquarters for vote counting as in the case of parliamentary elections, it will be a big challenge for the EC as well as candidates and their representatives. Election Commissioner Shah, however, said that counting of votes would begin right after the first phase of elections are over. “As per the law, the vote counting will begin soon after the voting is over,” he told the Post.