Vote counting in the election for vice-president has begun after the end of voting on Friday afternoon.
The voting took place in Lhotse Hall of the Federal Parliament building at New Baneshwar, Kathmandu, from 10 AM to 3 PM Friday.
A total of 829 lawmakers -- 311 federal lawmakers and 518 provincial assembly members – cast their votes in the election.
President Ram Chandra Paudel, lawmaker Prem Suwal of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Nepali Congress lawmaker Manorama Sherchan and 14 lawmakers of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) did not take part in the voting.
CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker Barsha Man Pun and Nepali Congress lawmaker Chandra Bhandari could not vote as they are undergoing treatment.
CPN-UML lawmaker Laxmi Koiri is on the run while Janata Samajwadi Party lawmaker Shahnaz Rahman died in February.
The Election Commission is planning to announce the result by 6 PM.
JSP leader Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav is the common candidate of the ruling coalition for vice-president, while UML has fielded Ashta Laxmi Shakya and Janamat Party has fielded Mamata Jha.
Yadav is supported by Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and other ruling coalition partners while Jha is supported by Nagarik Unmukti Party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Swatantra Party.
The federal lawmakers including House of Representatives (HoR) members and 59 National Assembly (NA) members are given weightage of 79 for each vote while the provincial lawmakers are given weightage of 48.
The weightage of each federal lawmaker is calculated by dividing the total population of the country (as per 2011 Census) by the total number of lawmakers (334) and dividing that number by 1,000.
The weightage of each provincial lawmaker is also calculated similarly replacing the total number of federal lawmakers with that of provincial lawmakers (550).
The total weighted votes for the vice-presidential election is 52,707 including 26,307 for federal lawmakers and 26,400 for provincial lawmakers. The candidate receiving 26,354 weighted votes is elected vice-president.
If no candidate secures majority in the election, a runoff is held between the top two candidates.
