Nepal all set to vote in Sunday’s General Election

Kathmandu [Nepal], November 19 (ANI): Nepal is all set for Sunday’s General Election as 275 seated House of Representatives and 550 seated Provincial assemblies will be on the line in the biggest democratic exercise in the country.
Thousands of polling booths have been set up across the nation, according to Nepal’s Election Commission. There are 18,879,570 eligible voters across the country who will be casting their votes in 10,892 polling stations.
For the smooth conduct of the election, as many as 2,45,960 officials and security personnel have been deployed all across the country. Polling would open at 7 am (local time) and close at 5 pm where people would have the right to exercise their franchise to elect 2 members each for the House of Representatives and Provincial assembly.
“As it is the election for House of Representatives and Provincial Council, the voters at first would vote for candidates who are in the fray to get elected to HoR on First-Past-the-post (FPTP) system followed by Proportionate Representation (PR). After casting votes for HoR they would vote for Provincial assembly on the same pattern meaning they would cast 4 votes in total,” Suresh Bhattarai, Deputy Electoral Officer at a polling station in Kathmandu told ANI.
There are a total of 2,412 candidates in the fray for first-past-the-post (FPTP) whereas 2,199 candidates from Proportionate Representation (PR) are vying to enter the 275-seated House of Representatives. A total of 165 members are elected from the FPTP system whereas 110 will make their way from the PR system.
For the Provincial Assembly, there are 3,224 candidates from FPTP and 3 thousand 708 candidates from proportionate seats. There are a total of 550 seats in all the 7 provincial assemblies of the Himalayan Nation out of which members on 330 seats would be elected from FPTP and 220 through the PR system.
“The electoral process would start as per the time fixed by Election Commission which is 7 am and continue till 5 pm. In the designated polling centers, all the voters present in the area would be given the right to exercise their franchise. Separate line for male and female along with arrangement for differently abled, elderlies and other instructions given by Election Commission about making the place accessible for all has been followed,” Jamuna Mishra, another Chief Electoral Officer from Kathmandu told ANI.
For Sunday’s election, the Election Commission has set an additional 141 temporary polling stations where inmates and on-duty officers stationed far from their district would be able to exercise their franchise. Their number of officers and inmates stands at 4,50,000, as per the election commission.
For Sunday’s election, the electoral body has already published nearly 4 crore ballots for the House of Representatives and Province Assembly FPTP system. (ANI)