Making holes in plastic tanks to make ballot boxes
KATHMANDU: DEC. 12 – Voting is taking place tomorrow to select the Congress leadership for the next five years. A total of 4,743 delegates will cast their votes to elect 134 people including the president.
Voting will be done by putting Swastika imprint on the ballot paper. Ballot boxes have been made in plastic tanks to drop the ballot papers. The ballot box is made by making a hole in the lid of the green tank so that votes can be dropped.
The country’s oldest party has repeated the old practice of voting in the age of technology. At the 10th general convention of the CPN-UML held in Chitwan recently, the leadership was elected through electronic voting machine. However, the Congress leadership did not believe it.
29 types of ballot papers
After the Congress General Convention Election Committee publishes the final list of candidates on Sunday at 12 noon, the work of publishing ballot papers and managing the polling station will begin. Secretary of the Congress Central Election Committee Jagannath Shrestha informed that 5,000 ballot papers of 29 types would be published for the election. The voting process for the General Convention will start from 8 am on Dec. 13. Preparations are underway to set up polling stations in three places for casting votes.
According to Shrestha, a member of the election committee, space has been allotted for 1300 voters in the National Assembly premises. Similarly, a polling station for 2100 voters is being constructed in the hall of Bhrikuti Mandap and a polling station for 1300 voters is being constructed in the open part of Bhrikuti Mandap. He said that information will be issued about the polling stations from which the delegates will go to the polling stations.
The polling is expected to end in 5 to 7 hours, said coordinator Ghimire. The Congress delegates will vote for the office bearers for the post of president, two vice presidents, two general secretaries and eight co-generals, including inclusive ones.
From the open ballot 35, women, Madhesi and Dalit 9-9, 21 including 3 from each state, Indigenous Nationalities 15, Khas Arya 13, Tharu 4 Muslim 3 and backward areas, disabled and minorities 1-1 central members will be elected. There is an arrangement for 33 central members including the treasurer of the Nepali Congress to be nominated by the Central Committee on the recommendation of the elected president.
How long will it take for the results to come?
Committee member Shrestha said that their goal is to make the results of the counting of votes public within a week. In the previous General Convention, it took up to two weeks for the votes of the Congress central members to come to fruition.
The Election Committee has a plan to count the votes of the last open central member. There is a provision in the party constitution that a person must be an active member for 10 years to become a candidate for central member in the Congress. The election committee has stated that the candidates will be able to register their nomination only after bringing their membership from the party office.
