Nepal set to vote for National Assembly, new govt. within a month

Kathmandu [Nepal], Feb 7 (ANI): Nepal, which held simultaneous elections last year, is set to vote for one final time, for the upper house on Wednesday, where 52 candidates are vying for the remaining 32 seats in the 59-seat upper parliament.

Polling stations have been set up in in Biratnagar (Province 1), Patan (Province 2), Lalitpur (Province 3), Pokhara (Province 4), Dang (Province 5), Surkhet (Province 6) and Doti (Province 7).

However, Patan will not be heading for the polls as all the members of the National Assembly from there are elected unopposed.

The Election Commission of Nepal has set the time period from 10 am to 3 pm for the voting in the respective polling centers.

As per Nepal's constitution, at least 33 percent of women's participation is mandatory in the parliament.

The National Assembly, which became an obstacle for the submission of the final results of the previously held elections to form the new government, will now be eased.

There will be four different ballot papers bearing the colour code of green and red. The weightage of vote for the Province Assembly members will be around 48, whereas the weightage of vote for the local level officials will be 18.

In 2015, the lately promulgated constitution of Nepal stipulated the bicameral federal legislature, comprising of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

The National Assembly or the Upper House has a total seat of 59 members, out of which three of them are nominated by the President. The remaining 56 of them are elected through the electoral college with the rate of eight members.

The electoral college comprises of at least three women, one backward class person and one from the minority or differently able communities from each of the province.

The electoral college of Nepal has a total of 2,056 voters, inclusive of 1,506 mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, along with the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the rural municipalities. The remaining 550 members are from the Province Assembly.

The elected representatives of the Upper House will have tenures of two, four and six years respectively. When the post fall vacant, re-elections for the vacant posts takes place.

Vote counting will happen swiftly after the commencement of the election. The Election Commission of Nepal will submit the final results of the election to the president, opening the way for the parliament to commence and procedure to elect the new Prime Minister of Nepal.

The leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) K.P. Sharma Oli is expected to be the first Prime Minister of Nepal under the federal system.

The election for the House of Representatives had taken place on two phases on November 26 and December 7 last year. (ANI)