Province 1- Decision to Cancel 100 Ballots, Candidates Boycott Vote Counting
Twenty candidates, including candidates of CPN-UML, have decided to boycott the counting of votes after the Election Office omitted 100 ballot papers from the ballot box for the House of Representatives. Chief Electoral Officer Krishna Prasad Subedi announced the decision on November 29.
The candidates of UML have accused the officer of abuse of authority.
UML candidate Manjukumari Chowdhury said, ‘We did not think such a decision would come from the chief election officer judge. He misused his power and authority, and we will seek to account for it.’
Chairperson of UML Parameshwara Ghimire has accused the Chief Electoral Officer of failing to be independent. He said that UML wants re-polling. The party has submitted an application to the Election Commission demanding re-polling. UML workers also protested against the appointed judge on November 29. The Chief Electoral Officer counted votes the same day after the protesting candidates were escorted out of the building.
Chief Electoral Officer Krishna Prasad Subedi said that after the candidate refused to send a representative for the vote count even after repeated requests. Only the Nepali Congress and National Independent Party representatives were present for the counting.The Chief Electoral Officer counted votes after various all-party meetings ended without any conclusion.
The counting was halted on November 26 after 100 ballot papers for Udaipur 1 (2) Provincial Assembly were found in 10 House of Representative ballot boxes. In total, 63 thousand and 80 votes had been counted in an area where 76 thousand and 756 votes were cast.
In response to this issue, The Election Commission has delegated the decision-making authority to the Chief Electoral Officer.
While the UML maintained the position that the ballot papers of the state assembly should be counted, Congress defended the position that they should not be counted.
So far, Congress candidate Narayan Khadka has taken the lead by 1,825 votes. Khadka got 27 thousand 484 votes, while UML’s Manjukumari Chaudhary got 25 thousand 659 votes, according to the election officer’s office.
Rakesh Nepali
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