'Qualified candidates won't be barred from filing nominations'

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Oct. 9: The Election Commission, the poll authority, has said that it will facilitate all the qualified candidates to file their nomination for the upcoming federal and provincial elections.

As per election schedule, nomination filing for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) category will take place on Sunday.

Organising a press meet here on Saturday, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the 

EC was ready to facilitate every eligible citizen to file their candidacy. “The Commission will not deprive any eligible citizen of the right to be a candidate.”

Chief Commissioner Thapaliya also said that the candidates can file their nomination even if they cannot reach the office of election officer in person.

"The existing law has not made the physical presence of the candidates mandatory. Even if any candidate is not able to visit the election office in person, they can file their nomination through their representatives,” he said.

They require an official letter from the party, power of attorney and photocopy of voter ID cards for filing their nomination, he added.

The EC has made such arrangements, so that the political parties could file nominations of their candidates using their resources, means and manpower if any difficult situation arrived while filing the candidacy, said Thapaliya.

The commission had already asked the office of the concerned election officer to facilitate the process, he added.

Likewise, EC said that the candidates who came to Kathmandu to get tickets and faced difficulties in returning to their respective district due to natural disasters will be able to file their nominations at the Election Commission's central office. “If the candidates have any difficulty in visiting the election office of their region, they can submit their nomination papers to the central office of the Election Commission. We will transfer it to the concerned office,” said Thapaliya.

The EC has also requested political parties and candidates not to exceed 25 people while visiting the office of election officers for nomination filing.

Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya further informed that the federal and provincial ministers were also prohibited from going to other places outside their constituencies for electoral campaigns by using government resources.

“If they have to visit other constituencies for any sort of work, the election code of conduct has made it mandatory for them to take permission from the commission,” he added.

The Election Commission has said that the movement of public vehicles will not be halted on the day of election.

The public vehicles would be allowed to operate in a systematic way in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Transport Management Department, said Thapaliya.

Stating that all security arrangements had been made to conduct the elections in a fair and fearless environment, he said polling stations have been classified based on security sensitivity in order to thwart efforts to disrupt the election.