By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Apr. 5: The Election Commission has started printing ballot papers from Monday for the upcoming local level election slated on May 13.
Janak Education Material Centre Ltd., Sanothimi Bhaktapur has started printing ballot papers for the local poll.

Speaking at the regular press meet, Election Commission’s Spokesperson Saligram Sharma Poudel said that the printing of the ballot papers would start from today.
Stating that a total of 180,000 sample ballot papers have already been printed as a test, Poudel said the printing of original ballot papers would start from Monday. Earlier on Thursday, the EC had already inspected the situation at the centre in terms of security, including machine and ink used for printing.

According to the EC, the total number of voters who will complete 18 years of age by May 12 is 177,333,723.
Spokesperson Poudel said that 19.4 million ballot papers would be printed for the total voters.

Eight to 25 per cent more than the actual number of the registered voters would be printed to meet various unforeseen emergencies, he added.
“More Extra ballot papers will be printed for the remote areas like Manag, Humla and Jumla compared to accessible areas,” said Poudel.
Ballot papers would be printed for the remote areas first as it would take a long time to reach the remote areas, he added.

Likewise, a total of 77 types of ballot papers will be printed in 23 groups. Of which, the lowest group with 16 would be printed for Dolpa and the highest with 56 groups will be printed for Kathmandu.
A total of 19.4 million ballot papers of 77 types in 23 wave groups will be printed, said Poudel. A total of 79 parties, including six which had got status of national party after the 2017 general elections, are taking part in the forthcoming election.

Similarly, the Commission has stated that the Election and Voter Guideline, Election Training Management Operation Guideline and Voting Guideline 2018 and Vote Count Guideline 2018 have been approved by the Commission and have come into force.