A total of 331 lawmakers of Federal Parliament and 550 lawmakers of provincial assemblies will vote in the presidential election scheduled to be held on March 9.
The Office of the Returning Officer at New Baneshwar published the voter list for the presidential election on Wednesday.
Of the 334 seats in Federal Parliament, one has remained vacant since the Supreme Court ruled Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane ineligible to become a lawmaker. Lamichhane was elected to the House of Representatives from Chitwan-2 in the November 20 general election.
Nepali Congress lawmaker Tek Bahadur Gurung will also not be allowed to vote as he is suspended over corruption charges.
Similarly, Nagarik Unmukti Party lawmaker Arun Kumar Chaudhary’s name is not included on the voter list as the voter list was last updated when notice of his arrest was read out in the Federal Parliament Secretariat. Chaudhary has already been released from prison after President Bidya Devi Bhandari waived his sentence. However, CPN-UML lawmaker Laxmi Mahato Koiri, who is on the police’s wanted list, is on the voter list.
“The Election Commission finalized the names of voters and sent us the list,” Mahesh Sharma Paudel, head of the office for presidential election, told Setopati. “We have only published the list.”
As per the election schedule, any complaints related to the voter list can be filed till Thursday.
The Regulations on Election for President and Vice-President state that the Election Commission requests for lists of sitting lawmakers from the Federal Parliament Secretariat and all seven provincial assembly secretariats and finalizes the voter list.
