FPTP ballot printing underway, PR complete: EC

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu,Feb.1 : The Election Commission (EC) has printed more than two million ballot papers for the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system. Printing of ballot papers for the proportional representation (PR) system has already been completed.

According to Baburam Koirala, Printing Officer at the EC, around 2.5 million FPTP ballot papers were printed by Saturday evening at the Janak Education Materials Centre. In total, 20.32 million ballot papers will be printed for the FPTP system nationwide.

Koirala said printing of ballot papers for Karnali Province has been completed, while ballot papers for most of the districts in Sudurpashchim Province have also been printed. 

Now, the EC has started printing ballot papers for the constituencies of Koshi Province.

He added that ballot papers for Bajura, Bajhang, Doti, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, and Kailali districts of Sudurpaschim Province have been completed.

Similarly, ballot papers for Jhapa-5 and Dhankuta constituencies have been printed, while printing for Sunsari-1 is currently underway.

Printing of FPTP ballot papers began on January 26 and is expected to be completed within 15 days of commencement.

Meanwhile, the EC has already printed 20.83 million ballot papers for the PR system. 

According to the Commission, PR ballot papers are printed in black ink on white paper and consist of 58 election symbols of the political parties that have submitted closed list of candidates for the PR election. 

A single, uniform PR ballot paper will be used nationwide, whereas FPTP ballot papers will vary by constituency and are printed in red ink on white paper. The size of FPTP ballot papers depends on the number of candidates contesting in each constituency. 

Joint spokesperson Kul GC said constituencies with more candidates will have larger ballot papers, while those with fewer candidates will have smaller ones. 

According to the EC, printed ballot papers will be transported to respective constituencies from February 8, and distribution will be completed by February 21. 

Polling officers will be allowed to open sealed ballot boxes only on the polling day, as mandated by law. The EC said ballot transportation will be carried out under strict security arrangements.

Code of Conduct violations

The EC has sought clarification from 21 individuals, political parties, and organisations over alleged violations of the election code of conduct. Of them, clarifications have been received from 10 so far.

Those asked to clarify include Koshi Province Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki, provincial minister Israel Mansuri, Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) from Jhapa-5, senior advocate Dr. Surendra Bhandari, Bishwraj Pokharel from Okhaldhunga, Kamal Bhusal (also known as Dr Nicholas) from Rupandehi-2, Mahesh Basnet of CPN-UML from Bhaktapur-2, Janamat Party chairperson CK Raut from Saptari-2, Khagendra Sunar of RSP from Banke-3, Nisha Adhikari from Kathmandu-5, Shakti Bahadur Basnet from Jajarkot-1, and Januka Pathak from Bhaktapur-2.

GC said the number of code of conduct violations has declined compared to the initial phase after the code came into effect.

EC call centre received over 1,600 calls 

The EC call centre, established on January 19, has received 1,677 calls so far. According to the EC, most calls were related to voter list inquiries. 

Of the total calls received, 135 are related to election code of conduct violations, 61 were related to voter education, and 387 fell under miscellaneous categories.

GC said that while the Commission initially received a high number of complaints regarding code of conduct violations, the number has declined after the appointment of code of conduct monitoring officers in each district.

Likewise, the EC is also monitoring misinformation, disinformation and hate speech that violate election laws. The Information Ethics Promotion Unit under the Election Information Dissemination and Coordination Centre is handling such cases.

According to the EC, the unit has identified 302 instances of harmful information and forwarded them to concerned authorities for action under the Election Code of Conduct 2025, the Electronic Transactions Act 2063, and the Press Council Act 2048.