KATHMANDU, Dec 30: A total of 64 parties have submitted Proportional Representation (PR) candidate lists to the Election Commission (EC) for the March 5 House of Representatives (HoR) election. Of these, only 18 parties have nominated candidates for all 110 available PR seats in the 275-member HoR.
Eight parties have submitted joint lists under multiple symbols, while the remaining 38 parties nominated candidates for fewer seats. Earlier, a total of 100 parties had registered with the EC to participate in the PR system.
Major parties to submit PR lists to EC today
The PR system also requires compliance with quotas for ethnic groups, geographic regions, and gender. At least 50% of candidates must be women. Candidates must also be selected from seven clusters: indigenous nationalities, Khas Arya, Tharu, Dalit, Madhesi, Muslim, and backward regions. The required representation for each group is as follows: 28.72% for indigenous nationalities, 30.28% for Khas Arya, 6.52% for Tharu, 13.44% for Dalits, 16.15% for Madhesi, 4.89% for Muslims, and 4.02% for backward regions.
Major parties contesting all PR seats include CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, Nepali Communist Party, Rastriya Swatantra Party, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party, among others. Six parties submitted only 11 names each. The EC has confirmed that no additional names can be added after submission. Similarly, six parties submitted PR lists exceeding 55 names.
According to EC Information Officer Suman Ghimire, the PR ballots, based on today’s submissions, will feature 58 election symbols. A total of 54 parties are contesting under their own symbols, while 10 parties are contesting under four combined symbols, resulting in 58 symbols appearing on the PR ballot.
