Election Commission Publishes Schedule; Candidate Registration to Begin January 20

The Election Commission published the election schedule for the House of Representatives election that is set for March 5.

The Commission on Sunday released the election programme for both the First-Past-The-Post and Proportional Representation systems.

The candidacy will be registered on January 20 in accordance with the programme announced for the FPTP system. Candidates can file their nomination papers between 10 am and 5 pm at the office of the election officer on that day. The list of candidates will be published on the same day between 5 pm and 7 pm.

Objections against candidates can be filed on January 21 between 10 am and 3 pm.

The Commission said the nomination papers and objections would be scrutinized and disposed of by 5 pm on January 22, and the final list would be published between 5 pm and 7 pm on the same day.

While candidates can withdraw their names on January 23 between 10 am and 1 pm, the final list of candidates will be published between 1 pm and 3 pm on the same day. Allocation of election symbols will be made between 4 pm and 7 pm.

The programme relating to the Proportional Representation system will start from December 5. The schedule states that the political parties desirous of participating in the PR election can submit applications from 10 am on December 6 to 4 pm on December 8.

According to the Commission, the names of the parties that submitted applications would be published between 10 am and 4 pm on December 9. Parties would have to submit their closed lists of candidates between 10 am and 4 pm on December 28 and 29. Final closed lists will be published between 10 am and 5 pm on February 2, it said.

According to the election schedule approved by the Commission, the voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm on March 5 at the assigned polling centres, Commission joint secretary and spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said.