All-party meeting called by Election Commission underway

KATHMANDU: An all-party meeting summoned by the Election Commission (EC) to discuss preparations of the local level elections has started at the office of the Commission.

In the meeting, the EC will apprise the leaders of the political parties of the progress of the preparations of the local elections.

The EC will also take suggestions from the political parties regarding the ballot paper. Earlier, main opposition CPN-UML had taken exception to the EC’s decision to keep ballot paper and election symbol green and the swastik stamp blue.

CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli had raised concerns over the EC’s decision to use green color on ballots. In the 2017 elections, the ballot paper was printed blue.

The EC has already made it clear that it reserves the right to choose the design and the color of the ballot paper.

EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel has informed that representatives of 17 political parties have been called for discussions regarding this issue.

As many as 80 political parties have applied for registrations to contest the local level election to be held on May 13.