ECN to update voters’ list in early December

Kathmandu, Nov. 22

 The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) is resuming the voters' name collection programme from 3 December 2020 halted due to COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The election body was collecting the names from election offices in 77 districts and 40 area administration offices as per the Voters' List Act, 2016.

Likewise, it had stopped the name collection programme following a government decision to hold elections for the House of Representatives on 20 December, 2020 and 22 May, 2021.

"Following the halt of the programme, various stakeholders have been urging the ECN to collect the names from the field," said ECN.

Meanwhile, as the tenure of the local body representatives is ending in the near future and there is a need to conduct elections of the local units, the ECN has continued the name list collection programme to ensure the voting rights of every eligible Nepali citizen.

"The programme will be launched as a special campaign at the headquarters of 637 local bodies, apart from the ones that have district or area offices," said the ECN in a statement on Monday.

The name collection will run for 10 days in the local bodies of mountain and hilly districts and for 15 days in Terai, Madhes and the Kathmandu Valley.

Since the programme will be run in two phases in every district, people can obtain the information about the dates of programme execution in their respective local bodies form the concerned election offices.

Every Nepali citizen above 16 years of age having the citizenship certificate can enroll themselves in the list and when they complete 18 years by the date defined by the ECN, they will be automatically listed as the voters, said the election body.

Nepali citizens who are out of their home districts can obtain the facility in the districts of their work or residence. The ECN will send their details to the concerned district election offices.

According to the ECN, about 2,300 staff will be mobilised in the name collection programme and it will conclude by 4 January 2022.

Nepal had 16.24 million voters in last January and it is expected that about 1 million voters will be added this year. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 December 2021.