EC prepares draft of Integrated Election Law

In line with the Supreme Court's verdict, the Election Commission (EC) of Nepal has prepared the Integrated Election Law with the provision to update voters' namelist by keeping details of Nepali citizens living abroad.

As proposed in the draft, Nepalis in foreign countries would be allowed to cast their votes for the proportional electoral system in the House of Representatives (HoR) election from the countries of destination with the help of Nepal's diplomatic missions there.

The EC would submit the draft to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The EC said that the draft was prepared by incorporating the comments of the National Concerns and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly and women wings of different political parties.

The EC has proposed that a candidate losing an election to the Federal Parliament, Province Assembly and local level would be ineligible to contest the polls until the term of the post was expired. However, this provision is not proposed for the by-election for the same constituency and level.

Likewise, elected twice under the proportional electoral system in the HoR and Province Assembly would be ineligible to contest the polls for the third time under the same system.

Similarly, women's candidacy should be at least 33 per cent for the first-past-the-post electoral system in the elections to the HoR and Province Assembly and the same provision applies to the local level election as well.

According to the EC, the candidates contesting the polls should also furnish the property details possessed by them and their family members.