EC registers 10 million people in e-voters’ list

Kathmandu, Jan. 6, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neelkantha Upreti disclosed on Friday that the Election Commission (EC) has registered names of 10 million people across the nation in the electronic voters’ list. "It is their electronic voters’ identity card with photographs," he said. Upreti made this remark speaking at an interaction on ‘Prospects and Contests of Voter Registration and Representation Model in the New Constitution’ organized by National Election Observation Committee (NEoC). He said the concern that the well informed elite groups of city areas were found reluctant to enroll their names in the list. The Commission had reached 10,000 locations to collect the voters’ names. Urging the civil society to play constructive role to make the EC’s bid to reform electoral process a success, Upreti said that the Commission wanted to enroll the names of all eligible voters in the voters’ list. He said that the new identity cards with photographs would avoid duplication and fraud voting in the upcoming elections. Constituent Assembly (CA) member Agni Kharel said that the political parties had agreed on mixed model of electoral system. "However, the details are yet to be worked out in this regard," he said. He said that the lack of sincerity among the political leadership had delayed the constitution drafting process. Presenting a working paper, NEoC general secretary Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti said that the voters’ list or names should be documented by considering the situation of migrated and internally displaced population, among others issues. Urging the EC to review its voters’ registration process, he also lauded the role of media to ensure people’s fundamental ‘right to vote’ by making the voters’ registration process more scientific. Former chief of the EC Bhoj Raj Pokhrel suggested that the election process should be simplified and economic so that the nation could easily hold the elections as per the need of the nation. Former chief of the EC Surya Prasad Shrestha urged active participation of youths and intellectuals in the process of making the electoral system fair and scientific. Civil society leaders Charan Prasain, Kapil Shrestha, Suresh Acharya, Ganesh BK, Pradeep Pokhrel, Bhawani Prasad Kharel, Dr. Netra Timilsina, Binita Yadav, senior advocate Krishna Bhandary, among others, participated in the discussion. Constitution expert Kashi Raj Dahal presented a working paper on electoral system.