KATHMANDU, JULY 3The Election Commission today sent an integrated draft of the new Election Bill, proposing some sweeping reforms.

These include the provision to bar people elected to the House of Representatives and province assemblies under proportional representation system from contesting the PR election for the third time, and to bar people who have lost election from contesting election again from other constituencies during the same tenure of the elected body, with the exception of byelection from the same constituency. Deuba moots election system change 'Two govt ministries yet to okay Civil Service draft bill' According to a press release issued by the EC, the bill proposes to give voters the option of no vote.

The bill proposes that if no vote percentage reaches 50, the election will be nullified.

Counting could begin at polling centres and tenure of the elected representatives shall be counted from the day they are elected.Provisions shall be made to allow Nepalis living in foreign countries to cast votes from their respective places. Voters who cannot vote on election day, can vote earlier.

The bill proposes to fix election date so that everybody will know which day of which year the election will take place.The bill also proposes to bar a member of a political party from becoming a candidate from another political party during election without renouncing the membership of his/her party.The bill proposes that court shall have to adjudicate election related cases where the eligibility of the candidate is challenged, within six months.Parties will be required to field at least 33 per cent women candidates under the first-past-thepost election system.

If a party chooses to contest only one post of chair and deputy chair of local levels, then the parties should field a woman candidate.Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the bill integrated seven election-related laws and it was aimed at ensuring 100 cent per cent voting in the election.

"We have incorporated provisions that could help maintain election integrity.

Provisions related to no vote, counting at the polling centres, option to cast votes ahead of elections are some of the major reforms that we have tried to introduce in the new bill," Thapaliya said, and added that there were special provisions for members of gender and sexual minority.

"We have incorporated new provisions that are currently being practised in other countries," Thapaliya said and added that the EC expects the legislature to add some more progressive provisions but not to drop the reforms it has suggested."We can always strive to move ahead but not go back," Thapaliya said.He said the EC expected the government to register the new bill at the Parliament in the next three weeks.Former chief election commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety said that the provisions proposed by the EC deserved praise as these provisions were required to bring timely reforms in the election system.

He said barring people from contesting PR elections more than two times, ensuring 33 per cent women's candidacy in FPTP election, provisions related to no vote and voting rights for Nepalis living abroad were important provisions."In the past, the government diluted the election bill draft.

We hope this time the government does not drop the reforms proposed by the EC," Uprety said and added that if political parties and lawmakers took a call on the bill keeping in mind their personal interests, they might dilute the bill and the stakeholders needed to guard against such tendency.A version of this article appears in the print on July 4, 2023, of The Himalayan Times. .

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