30,000 new voters in a day

Over 30,000 new voters were added on a single day as the Election Commission of Nepal began registering voters based on National Identity Card data.

According to the Election Commission, 239,940 new voters had been registered as of 8 pm Wednesday, with 30,373 added that day itself. The deadline for voter registration has been fixed for November 16, Kartik 30. Officials said the number of new registrants has been increasing steadily as the deadline draws near.

The commission has begun to include citizens in the voter list with the details of the National Identity Card database from Thursday onwards. A new provision allows people with a National ID number, especially those who cannot go personally to the election offices, to register more conveniently.

Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said technical preparations and system testing were completed overnight on Wednesday to ensure a smooth launch of the new system.

Officials say National ID data integration is expected to speed up the registration process in the remaining days before the deadline.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sushila Karki had discussions with top officials of the Election Commission on arrangements regarding the upcoming elections. The commission informed the Prime Minister that preparations for voter registration through the National ID system would start from Thursday.

Director General of theDepartment of National Id and Civil Registration, Namaraj Ghimire, who was also present at the meeting, expressed readiness to provide the biometric data collected during the distribution of the National Identity Cards to the Election Commission for voter registration purposes.