KATHMANDU: Janak Education Materials Centre Limited (JEMCL), Sanothimi, is printing around 1.3 million ballot papers daily for the upcoming House of Representatives (HoR) election scheduled for March 5.
JEMCL Managing Director Yadunath Paudel said that out of a total requirement of 20.3 million ballot papers for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, 8 million had been printed by Thursday evening.
“At present, we are printing up to 1.3 million ballot papers per day. All remaining ballot papers will be printed within a week, after which packaging will begin,” Paudel said.
He added that the center has already completed printing and packaging 20.83 million ballot papers for the proportional representation (PR) system. Of these, 1 million sample ballot papers have already been distributed by the Election Commission (EC) to various locations.
According to Paudel, transportation of PR ballot papers will begin from February 8 or 9, while printing of FPTP ballot papers will be completed by the end of the month. All ballot-related work is expected to be finalized by February 13 or 14, with distribution to districts to follow immediately.
So far, 8 million FPTP ballot papers have been printed for 60 constituencies under the HoR election.
“Printing of 20,854,800 PR ballot papers was completed earlier, and printing of 20,323,000 FPTP ballot papers began on January 26,” Poudel said, adding that the centre is working in line with the EC’s plan to dispatch ballot papers to all constituencies by February 15.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said that district election offices will themselves procure 37 different types of materials required for conducting the election.
Comment