30 lakh ballots ready as Nepal gears up for March 5 elections
According to Election Commission spokesperson and Joint Secretary Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, as of Saturday night, ballots for 25 districts have been printed.
KATHMANDU: The Election Commission has intensified preparations for the upcoming elections, accelerating the printing of voter lists and ballots.
Speaking at a regular press conference on Sunday, Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that the printing of proportional representation ballots has been completed, while the printing of first-past-the-post (direct) ballots has begun.
So far, printing of 3 million ballots in 25 districts has been completed for the direct election category.
Bhattarai added that a total of 28.3 million ballots required for proportional representation have already been printed.
The printing of direct ballots started last week, and approximately 17 million out of the 20 million required ballots are yet to be printed.
He said that around 1.2 to 1.5 million ballots are being printed daily.
“The priority this week is to complete the printing of ballots and voter lists. We expect the printing of voter lists to be finished by next week. The required 28.3 million ballots for proportional representation have all been printed. For the direct election, 3 million out of 20 million ballots have been printed so far, leaving 17 million more to complete. At the current rate of 1.2 to 1.5 million ballots per day, we are on track to meet our target,” he said.
Bhattarai emphasized that as the election date approaches, the Commission is accelerating work according to its planned schedule to ensure all preparations are completed on time.
