KATHMANDU, Nov 8: The Election Commission (EC) has started election preparations to fill the vacant positions of members of the National Assembly. Information Officer at the EC Surya Prasad Aryal informed that the preparations for the election have been started according to the legal provision that the National Assembly elections should be completed by January 29, 2024.
In Section 5 of the National Assembly Election Act, there is a legal provision that elections should be held 35 days before the position of a member of the National Assembly falls vacant. It states, "When determining the date of election in accordance with subsection (1), the date of the election of the member position that will be vacant after the term of office established in accordance with Article 86 (3) of the Constitution has expired, the date shall be set so that the election is held 35 days before that position becomes vacant."
According to the same provision, the commission has prepared to hold elections in the last week of January for the posts that are going to be vacant from March 4, 2024, he said. One-third of the members of the National Assembly become vacant every two years.
The term of one third of the National Assembly i.e., 20 MPs including 19 members will expire on March 4, he said. We are consulting with the government to set the date of the National Assembly elections on January 12 or 13. According to the legal provisions, election preparations have already begun 35 days before the date, and I have been consulting with the government to finalize the date, which could be either January 26 or January 27.
The term of office of those appointed for 6 years during the lucky draw in the National Assembly on June 18, 2018 is coming to an end. The term of office of 20 MPs in the National Assembly including Speaker Ganesh Timilsina, 9 from UML, 4 from Nepali Congress, 3 from CPN (Maoist Center), 2 from CPN (Unified Socialist) Party, 1 each from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) MPs will expire on March 4, 2024.
The term of office of Ganesh Timilsina, who is also the President of National Assembly from CPN-UML, Chief Whip Bhairab Sundar Shrestha, Indu Kadaria, Kumar Dasaudi, Deepa Gurung, Dilkumari Rawal Thapa (Parbati), Narpati Luwar, Ramchandra Rai and Bimala Rai Paudyal (nominee) are ending.
Similarly, the term of office of Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi, Anita Devkota, Prakash Pantha and Jitendra Narayan Dev from the Nepali Congress, Bina Pokhrel from the CPN (Maoist Center), Mahesh Kumar Mahara, Hari Ram Chaudhary, Nanda Chapai of CPN (Unified Socialist) Party, Sing Bahadur Bishwakarma, Pramila Kumari Yadav of JSP and RSP MP Khimlal Devkota are ending. He said that the government is being consulted to hold elections for various vacancies in the House of Representatives, Provincial Assembly and local level in the coming month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-June).