Nepal: General elections to be held on November 20

In Nepal, general elections will be held in a single phase on November 20 this year. The decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The Himalayan nation will hold the elections of the members of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly on November 20. There are a total of 275 seats in the House of Representatives, out of which 165 members are directly elected, while the remaining 110 are elected through proportional representation. Among 550 seats of the seven provincial assemblies, 330 are directly elected and 220 are elected through proportional representation. Main Opposition leader and Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) KP Sharma Oli has welcomed the announcement of the polls.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has geared up preparations for it. The EC said it was capable to hold the election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner. The EC had made the recommendation for announcement of election date by maintaining at least 120 days as election period. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the election calendar would be published immediately after Dashain. As per EC, some one million voters will be increased for the coming election. Similarly, the process of party registration will begin as per Article 271 of Constitution of Nepal and Section 48 of Political Parties Act, 2073.He said Rs 8.11 billion was spent to hold the local level elections while Rs 10 billion is estimated to be spent for the coming election. The EC will also update the booth and voting centres.