Kathmandu, December 31
The Election Commission says it is mulling over using eight types of ballot papers for the National Assembly polls.
The Commission’s spokesperson Dinesh Ghimire says different types of ballot papers are needed as the voters have two levels of weight and the upper House members will be elected representing four clusters (women, Dalits, Janajatis or people with disabilities, and others).
Ghimire, however, maintains that a final decision about the types of ballot papers is yet to be taken.
The National Assembly Ordinance has a provision that the electoral college consists of two types of voters and their votes have different weights. There will be total 2,056 members in the electoral college.
The weight of a vote cast by a provincial assembly member is 48 whereas that by a local level chief or deputy chief is 18.
Meanwhile, Ghimire says the Commission needs total 40 days to complete the entire poll process, urging the government to announce the poll date at the earliest.
He also says the government should appoint province chiefs as soon as possible so that the Commission can submit provincial assembly poll results to them and they can administer the oath of office to new provincial lawmakers.
