EC chief submits annual report to President

BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathmandu, Feb. 13: The Election Commission (EC) Sunday submitted its annual report of the fiscal year 2021/022 to President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya presented the report  to the President in accordance with the Article 294 of the Constitution at a ceremony organised at the Office of the President. 

On the occasion, President Bhandari thanked the EC for successfully concluding the elections of the local levels, House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies in 2022.

She said that EC had proved that the elections should be concluded in time as periodic election is the soul of democracy.

Stating that the work of updating the voters’ list should be carried out continuously, the President said that an arrangements should be made so that the  voters can cast vote from the places convenient  to them in the elections to be held under the proportional representation (PR) category. 

She also stressed the need for launching voter education programme before each election.  

Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya had presented a summary of major  events conducted by the EC in the last fiscal year. He said that the EC was functioning abiding by the  constitution and law. 

He also informed that the EC was in a process to prepare a draft of a unified election law on the basis of the suggestions received and hand it over to the government.

According to the report, the EC had hold a total of 141 meetings and made 624 decisions in the last FY. It stated that the term of office of one third  of National Assembly members had expired on March 4, 2022 as of the Article 86 (3) of Constitution of Nepal. Likewise, the election for the vacant positions were held on January 26,2022.

The EC had established 21,955 polling centres in 10,756 polling stations thought out the country during 2022 local level election. 

According to the report, EC had received a budget of Rs. 8.11billion for the local level elections. Of that, Rs. 5.043 billion was spent and remaining Rs. 3.06 billion was returned to the Finance Ministry. 

Election Commissioners and Secretary of the EC were present on the occasion.