EC updating voter roll sans citizenship
KATHMANDU, JUL 08 -
The Election Commission (EC) has started registering eligible voters into the newly adopted biometric system even without citizenship certificate which was mandatory for enrolment earlier.
The Commission has relaxed its registration process by accepting voter roll used in the 2008 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections or official certificates bearing the name of a person applying for registration.
EC officials lamented that they were forced to update the voter roll even without citizenship cards after the major political forces took the decision “undermining the constitution” in an ordinance formulated to remove constitutional hurdles before forming the incumbent interim election government.
“We were forced to take this decision after major political parties demonstrated maximum flexibility in updating the voter roll for the upcoming elections,” said Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety.
The EC, which reportedly started registering voters without citizenship certificates from the very beginning of the promulgation the election ordinance, has issued a public notice after the Madhes-based parties pressurised it. The EC directive has a provision to update the voters registered in the 2008 voter roll into the new voter roll even without the national ID. However, the recommendation of local authorities mainly officials at Village Development Committees and municipalities is required before they are enrolled into the new voter list. In November 2011, the Supreme Court had ordered the government and the EC not to issue new voter-ID cards without citizenship certificate. A single bench of Justice Prakash Wasti had then ordered the commission to make the citizenship the basis for voter roll updates.
The EC, which had initially taken a tough stand in voter roll update to avoid duplication and overlapping, has now directed the local authorities to update voter rolls even on the basis of the previous voter list.
The 2007 voter roll was updated on the basis of a land revenue certificate or any identification paper issued by a public institution or an educational institution in case of someone without a citizenship certificate.
Out of the total 17.6 million voters registered in the 2008 CA election, only 15.5 million cast their votes. The EC has so far registered over 12 million voters for the upcoming CA elections. The commission has a target of registering 12.5 voters by mid-July, the deadline set for the voter roll update. Of the total voters registered with photo and finger prints, over 18,000 were reportedly found to have been repeated in the recent registration.
Citing the 2011 census, the EC puts the number of eligible voters (Nepali people above 18) up till February last year at 15.4 million. The EC believes some 2.5 to 3 million voters are yet to register with the election body.
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