नेपाल संसद् विघटनः वैशाखमा प्रतिनिधिसभाको निर्वाचन भए उमेर पुगेर पनि कसकसले मत खसाल्न पाउँदैनन्
"Dissolution of Nepal Parliament: If the House of Representatives election is held in April, some people will not be able to cast their votes even after reaching the age"
The Election Commission has stated that the necessary preparations have been made for holding the polls on the scheduled date after the government announced the election for the House of Representatives.
According to officials, the commission is currently working on revising the code of conduct, finalizing the budget and managing the materials.
The government has set the date for the election of members of the House of Representatives in two phases on April 3 and 4.
Thirteen writ petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against the move to dissolve the House of Representatives and declare elections.
The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday decided to hear the case on its own without referring it to the full plenary session as it appears to contain "questions of serious constitutional interpretation".
The Supreme Court upheld the government's move and said that if elections were held on time, a large number of people would be disenfranchised despite being of voting age.
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Those expressing such concerns range from ordinary citizens to former chief commissioners of the Election Commission.
On the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, the President dissolved the House of Representatives on April 19
In Nepal, there is a legal provision that after reaching the age of 16, one can register in the voters' roll and a person who has reached the age of 18 can vote.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel says, "Large groups are likely to be deprived of the voting process. That group is very eager to vote and participates vigorously."
"Such voters are more likely to be disenfranchised, which is not a good thing."
According to the spokesperson of the Election Commission, Raj Kumar Shrestha, the commission had updated the countrywide voter list on September 20, 2008.
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"After that, the voter list was updated during the by-elections in some constituencies. But it was limited to a few places," spokesperson Shrestha told BBC News Nepali.
The Election Commission (EC) has stated that it is going to update the voter list by considering the 'cut off date' for the April 20 election as the last date.
But this time, new voters will not be included when updating the list. . The commission has stated that the names of 16.3 million voters have been included till that date.
"In it, we prepare the final list by removing the voters who have died, whose names have been duplicated and who have given wrong details," Shrestha added.
This means that since the beginning of the Corona Virus epidemic, those who have not returned to their homeland will not be able to cast their votes.
In 2074 BS, the voter list was updated during the by-elections across the country and in some places
"According to the existing law, once the date of the election is announced, the work of collecting the names of the voters will be stopped. Therefore, those whose names are not in the voters' list before that cannot participate in the voting," Shrestha clarified.
Home Ministry Information Officer Premlal Lamichhane said on Saturday that there were official statistics that 769,565 Nepalis had returned home by land and air after the outbreak of the Corona Virus epidemic.
Commission officials say it is not possible to say how many of them are on the voter list.
Apart from the Nepalis who have returned from abroad, the former Chief Election Commissioners estimate that there may be many who missed to register their names in the list after reaching the age of 18 in 2074 BS.
Amendments to the law
Another former chief election commissioner, Nilakantha Upreti, suggested that all eligible voters should be given the right to vote.
"I think there are 10-12 lakh citizens who can register their names. The commission should launch a big campaign to include everyone in the list," he said.
"There is no such thing as an ordinance to ensure the right of the people to vote."
The parties will agree and if the government amends the law and opens the way for the collection of names, the spokesperson of the commission Shrestha also agrees that all the missing persons can participate in the voting.
