Nepal Plans Ordinance to Secure Voting Rights for Citizens Abroad

The government is preparing to introduce an ordinance to ensure voting rights for Nepalis residing abroad.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is preparing to amend four election related acts for this.

This comes as per recommendation of the Election Commission to amend the act on Election Commission Act, the Voter List Act, the House of Representatives Election Act and the Election (Offenses and Punishment) Act.

The Ministry is currently collecting written opinions from concerned bodies regarding the draft prepared for this purpose and the draft has now been sent to Ministry of Foreign Afffairs.  

After receiving feedback from the Ministry of Law as well, the Home Ministry will present the draft to the Council of Ministers.

The electoral body has stated that it is necessary to amend the existing laws to facilitate the registration, voting and vote counting processes for Nepalis living abroad.

Commission’s spokesperson, Narayan Prasad Bhattarai says the Commission has provided necessary recommendations for amending provisions in the law related to voter registration, management of polling centers and offenses and penalties during elections.

According to the 2021 national census, there are about 3.2 million Nepalis living abroad.