Kathmandu [Nepal], January 8 : A total of 52 candidatures have been filed for the January 25 election for the 19 vacant seats of the National Assembly or the upper house of Nepal's bicameral parliament.
As per the Election Commission of Nepal, the nominations were filed at the Office of the Election Officer, set up across seven provinces, between 10 am and 3 pm (local time) on Monday.
Voting for the National Assembly members will be held on January 25 for 19 National Assembly seats that are set to fall vacant on March 4.
The term of Bimala Rai Paudel, who was nominated by the then president on the recommendation of the then KP Sharma Oli government, is also set to expire on March 4.
Nine out of the 20 members, including Bimala Rai Paudel, whose term is set to expire in March are from opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist).
The National Assembly members whose term is set to expire also include four from Nepali Congress (NC), three from CPN (Maoist Center), two from the CPN (Unified Socialist), one from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and independent lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota.
Joint Secretary Shaligram Sharma Paudel, spokesperson for the Election Commission, said that 52 candidates from eight different parties have filed candidatures for the election.
The candidates contesting the election are from UML, NC, Maoist Center, Unified Socialist, JSP, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Janamat Party.
Among them, 18 have filed nominations under the Women cluster, five under the Dalit cluster, eight under the Disabled/Minorities cluster and 21 under the Others cluster. Two candidates have filed nominations under the women cluster and three under the others cluster in Koshi province.
In Bagmati province, four candidates under the Women cluster, three under the Dalit cluster, four under the Disabled/Minorities cluster and four under the Others cluster have filed their nominations.
Gandaki province has three candidates under the Women cluster, two under the Disabled/Minorities cluster and three under the Others cluster.
Three parties have fielded candidates under the women cluster and four under Others cluster in Lumbini province.
In Karnali province, two candidates each have filed nominations under Women, Dalit, and Others clusters.
Sudur Paschim also has a total of six candidates for the election, with two each under Women, Disabled/Minorities and Others clusters.
The Election Commission of Nepal on Sunday published the voter list which only includes provincial assembly members, chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of rural municipalities, mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, metropolis and sub-metropolis.
The electoral college has 549 provincial assembly members and 1,498 chiefs and their deputies of the local units are eligible to vote in the upper house election. Their votes have a combined weightage of 57,559.
A vote of the provincial assembly member carries a weightage of 53, whereas it is 19 each for the chief and deputy chiefs of the local units.
The Election Commission, as per the election timetable, will publish the list of nominations on Tuesday, with the final list of candidates to be published on January 12.
The electoral body will allocate the election symbol to candidates on January 13 and voting will start from 9 am to 3 pm on January 25.
The term of 20 lawmakers in the 59-strong upper house expires on March 3. While 19 seats will be filled through elections, one member will be nominated by the President on the Cabinet's recommendation.
The term of one-third members of the upper house is completed every two years.
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