The government registered a bill at the Parliament Secretariat on Tuesday to amend the Local Level Election Act with an aim to bring the agitating Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal on board the second round elections.

The Cabinet on Monday decided to amend Clause 18 of the Act, which requires the parties to submit the names and signatures of party officials who can send letters of candidate nomination to the EC 15 days ahead of the due date. Without this, the EC does not recognise candidates as the party’s official nominees.

Nirmala Adhikari, joint-secretary at the Home Ministry, told the Post that the amendment will authorise the EC to decide when the parties should submit such names and signatures to it.

Considering that the RJP-N cannot join the elections for failing to submit the names on time, the government made this move. The RJP-N was formed recently after the merger of six Madhes-based forces. EC officials termed the government’s move as “practical”, saying that it would be instrumental in accommodating the parties left out in the poll process.

Election Commissioner Narendra Dahal, however, said the RJP-N would not get ‘umbrella’ as its election symbol since the ballot papers have already been printed. To give the party the symbol it demands, around 10 million ballots have to be reprinted and this is not feasible, according to EC officials. “They can contest the election with one of the symbols assigned to one of the six constituents before their merger,” he added.