Kathmandu, October 4
The Nepali Congress will not use electronic voting machines to elect its new leadership at the party’s 15th General Convention.
The party has decided to conduct the election using traditional paper ballots after concluding that electronic voting would not significantly reduce the time required to announce the results.
The 15th General Convention is being held at Kathmandu’s Khula Manch on Sunday. According to the election schedule, registration of candidacies for the new party leadership and central working committee will begin on Monday.
Voting will be conducted at three locations — Khula Manch, the National Assembly Hall and Nepal Academy in Kamaladi.
A Congress leader said discussions had been held with Ram and Laxman about the possibility of using electronic voting machines. However, the party was informed that announcing the results within a day or two would not be possible given the participation of more than 7,000 convention representatives.
“We discussed the electronic voting machines with Ram and Laxman. But they said that with more than 7,000 representatives, it would not be possible to produce the results within one or two days. So, we concluded that voting should be conducted using the traditional paper ballot system,” the leader said.
The Congress is expecting more than 7,500 representatives to participate in the convention, which will elect the party’s leadership and central committee for the next term.
