The Rising Nepal
Arpana Adhikari
Kathmandu, Sept. 20: The political parties on Monday reached the office of Election Commission at Kantipath to submit their closed lists of candidates under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system for November 20 elections.
The Election Commission (EC) had allotted September 18-19 for submitting the closed lists of candidates under the PR system to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assemblies.
However, most of the political parties submitted their closed lists for the PR system only late Monday. Only two parties submitted closed lists for HoR election on Sunday.
Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), among others, had reached the office to submit the closed list.
As of 10:00 pm, a total of 16 parties have submitted their closed lists for HoR election, the official Facebook page of EC confirmed.
The parties that submitted their closed lists are CPN (Unified Socialist), Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Nepal Marksbadi (Pushpalal), Nepal Communist Party, Nepal Samabesi Party, Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party, Rastriya Bam Morcha, Bahujan Ekta Party, Rastriya Nagarik Party, Mangol National Organisation, Miteri Party Nepal, Janamat Party, Nepal Ka Lagi Nepali Party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal and Ekikrit Shakti Nepal.
Similarly, 11 parties have submitted their closed lists for the Provincial Assemblies in Province 1, Bagmati Province, nine parties in Madhes Province, seven in Gandaki Province, six each in Lumbini and Karnali Province and 10 parties have submitted their closed list in Sudurpaschim Province, the EC’s update showed.
Though the EC had fixed the time to submit the list before 5:00 pm Monday, party representatives who had reached the EC office before 5:00 pm will be allowed to submit their lists, said EC’s spokesperson for PR electoral system Guru Prasad Wagle. The process of submitting the closed lists will continue till Monday midnight, Wagle said.
As many as 110 parliamentarians will be elected under the PR system in the
federal parliament, including 57 women and 53 men.
NC general secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma-led team had reached the Commission to submit the list.According to Sharma, the closed list for the federal parliament includes the names of 110 persons and 220 have been recommended for the provincial assembly election.
Likewise, the main opposition CPN-UML submitted a closed list under the PR category on Monday. The party leaders including Shankar Pokharel had reached the EC office to submit the list.
The UML has submitted the names of 110 candidates for HoR and 220 for the Provincial Assemblies. The Secretariat meeting held on Sunday had approved the list.
The list includes the names of 32 people from indigenous community, 34 from Khas Arya, seven from the Tharu community, 17 people from the Madhesi community, 15 people from Dalits, and five people from Muslims. Out of the total number of 110 people in that list, 57 are women and 53 are men.
The UML has recommended the names of 37 candidates for Province 1, total 43 people in Madhes Province, 44 people in Bagmati, 24 people in Gandaki, 35 people in Lumbini, 16 people in Karnali and 21 people in Sudurpaschim Province.
Similarly, the ruling coalition partner CPN (Unified Socialist) has also submitted the closed list of candidates for the PR electoral system on Monday.
Gangalal Tuladhar, deputy general secretary of the party, informed that the closed list of candidates for the PR electoral system had been submitted to the Election Commission on Monday afternoon.
The closed list was submitted in accordance with the spirit of the constitution considering the inclusive representation, said Tuladhar, adding the party submitted the list of 220 candidates for the Provincial Assemblies and 110 names for HoR.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) has submitted the closed lists of candidates for the PR system. General Secretary Dev Gurung and deputy general secretaries Barsha Man Pun and Giriraj Mani Pokharel had reached the EC office with the list for the HoR and Provincial Assemblies.
The party submitted the names of 110 candidates for HoR and 220 for the seven Provincial Assemblies. According to Rup Narayan Shrestha, central committee member of Nepal Samajwadi Party led by Baburam Bhattarai, the CPN (Maoist Centre) has also included candidates from Bhattarai’s party in the closed list for provincial assemblies for the PR electoral system.
He however, didn’t mention the number of seats allocated for the party.
Similarly, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal has also submitted the list of 110 candidates for HoR.
Leader of LSP, Keshav Jha, who reached the EC office to submit the closed lists informed that the list of 110 candidates for HoR was submitted to the EC while candidates were not given in all the seats of the provincial assemblies.
Meanwhile, the EC has already stated that it will not allow tampering of the closed lists of candidates for the PR electoral system. The EC has allotted a week to make changes in the lists the parties submitted on Sunday and Monday.
According to the EC, the parties could make changes in the lists from September 26 to October 2. However, they would not be allowed to enter new names in the lists once the closed list is submitted to the Commission.
The directives for HoR proportional representatives (PR) electoral system required the parties to prepare the closed list as per the principle of inclusion. The directives require a list stipulating the parties to include a specific number of candidates from each cluster starting from a minimum of 11 candidates to the maximum of 110.
