The election to Nepal's National Assembly concluded peacefully today in all six provinces with a huge voter turnout of over 99 per cent, according to the Election Commission.
This is for the first time that the National Assembly election is being conducted in accordance with the new Constitution promulgated in 2015.
The Constitution has stipulated for a bicameral federal legislature comprising the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.
The voting started at 9 am and concluded at 3 pm with voters participating in great numbers.
According to the spokesperson of the Election Commission, 99.52 per cent voters turned out to cast their vote.
There were altogether 1,677 voters in the six provinces, the spokesperson said, adding that in province 6, situated in southern Nepal, all candidates were elected unopposed.
Of the total 56 members to be elected, 24 have already been unanimously elected.
As many as 52 candidates are vying for the remaining 32 seats. As per the constitutional provision, eight members will be elected from each province.
The election for the House of Representatives was held in two phases on November 26 and December 7. There are a total of 275 seats in the House of Representatives whereas the National Assembly (the Upper House) has 59 members.
Of them, 56 members are elected by the electoral college with eight members from each province, including at least three women, one Dalit and one person from the disabled or minority communities.
The president will nominate three members, including at least one woman to the National Assembly, at the recommendation of the council of ministers.
The electoral college is made up of 2,056 voters, including 1,506 mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, and chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the rural municipalities.
The rest of the electorate are the 550 members of the Provincial Assemblies of all the seven provinces.
The counting of votes has started in all six provinces and as per the preliminary vote count, the Left Alliance candidates are leading in most of the seats, the spokesperson said.
Results of the counting have started pouring in some provinces, the official said, adding that all the results are expected to come out by tomorrow.
The Left Alliance of the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre secured 174 seats in the 275-member Parliament in the country's recently-concluded historic provincial and parliamentary polls that many hope will bring much-needed political stability to the Himalayan nation.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
