Nepal EC begins registering political parties for polls

The Election Commission in Nepal has started registering political parties for the upcoming Constituent Assembly elections.
On the first day of registration, seven political parties including CPN-UML, Unified CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress, Sadvana Party and Terai Madhes Democratic Party have submitted applications for party registration for election purposes.
The political parties in Nepal have tentatively agreed to conduct new elections, though the exact date for the elections is yet to be announced.
The Election Commission has given one month's time for registering political parties for the upcoming elections, according to sources at the Commission.
The Commission is currently engaged in preparations for the upcoming elections, Election Commissioner Awadhi Prasad Yadav, told PTI.

He said that all the works including collecting voters' name list and training for the Election Commission staff are going smoothly.

The office of the president has recently approved two election-related bills, one relating to amendment to Voters' Name List Collection and another Constituent Assembly Election Act.
However, the Election Commission Act is yet to be amended for conducting election on time, he pointed out.
So far, 11.3 million Nepalese voters have been enlisted in the voters' name list and the Election Commission has started the process of collecting names of thousands of voters who were left out during registration, he said.

He also expressed hope that the CPN-Maoist, breakaway faction of Unified CPN-Maoist and some fringe parties, who had threatened to boycott polls, will come to register their parties for the elections.
He also underlined the need for cooperation from all the political parties and civil society members for creating a conducive atmosphere for the elections.
After the dissolution of the constituent assembly in May last year, Nepal had plunged into serious political and constitutional crisis as parties failed to agree on a constitution.
The political deadlock was broken last month with Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi's appointment as the country's new Prime Minister to head an interim government that will hold elections to the 601-member constituent assembly.