Nepal to have only three electoral acts substituting existing nine

KATHMANDU, Jan 1: The government has given its nod to the Election Commission to reduce the number of election-related acts from nine to three. 

A Cabinet meeting held last Wednesday took a decision to this effect and gave a theoretical nod. 

There are a total of nine acts to govern elections ranging from the local level to the presidential one. The poll body, however, is preparing to introduce an act integrating seven of them. Once the new integrated act is introduced, the acts including Political Party Act, Election Commission Act and Election Operation and Management Act will remain in practice. The seven other acts, however, will be annulled. 

The commission is preparing to make sure that the poll body will be more autonomous in the new acts. The acts are being amended in such a way that the commission itself will have an authority to fix the date for elections in coordination with the government. As of now, the federal government fixes the election dates. 

The Supreme Court recently issued a mandamus to amend the election-related laws incorporating the provision allowing the Npepalis abroad to use the voting right. Similarly, the apex court ordered to ensure the provision of the right to reject or ‘no vote’. New integrated acts are more likely to include these provisions, according to an official at the commission. 

Acts to be annulled

With Cabinet giving the nod to introduce an integrated act, as many as seven acts will be annulled. 

Electoral Roll Act-2017, Election (Offences and Punishment) Act-2017, Local Level Election Act-2017, House of Representatives Election Act-2017, Provincial Assembly Election Act-2017, President and Vice-president Election Act-2017 and National Assembly Election Act-2017 will be annulled once the integrated act is introduced. 

New Acts

Similarly, Election Commission Act-2017 and Political Party Act-2017 both, however, will not be annulled but amended.

The election Operation and Management Act will be the new integrated act incorporating all major provisions in the acts that the poll body is preparing to annul. 

The Election Commission, however, is not authorized to review the Electoral Constituency Delimitation-2017 as it is to be reviewed by the federal parliament every 20 years.