By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Mar. 11: The Election Commission (EC) has clarified that the decision to change the colours of ballot paper and election symbol for the upcoming local level election was to ease vote counting.
Earlier, EC had decided to prepare ballot papers in the upcoming local level election by putting details with green election symbols on a white background.
At a regular press conference on Thursday, assistant spokesperson of EC Surya Prasad Aryal clarified that the commission decided to prepare ballot papers in the forthcoming local poll by putting details with a green election symbol on a white background, as it is voter- and enumerator-friendly.

“The decision was made with an intention of making the counting of votes easier and the sign on the ballot paper distinct,” said Aryal.
During the three-tier election held in 2017, election symbols and the swastika, a sign to indicate the election symbol, was printed in blue.

Aryal said, “During the earlier elections, it was found that there were difficulties to count the votes at night, since the colour of the election symbol and swastika was the same. So the decision was made for colour contrast and to make it voter- and enumerator-friendly.”

The commission has decided to change the colour of the ballot paper, election symbol and swastika as per the suggestions of the election officials, monitoring officers, enumerators and stakeholders, he added.
Claiming that the commission has the right to design and colour the ballot papers for the election, Aryal said, “The commission is ready to clarify if anyone has any reservations,” he stressed.
CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli has publicly opposed EC’s decision to print green ballot paper for the upcoming local level polls slated for May 13.

He claimed that the commission made the decision in a way that would benefit the ruling Nepali Congress, as its election emblem is tree.
However, General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, has urged UML chair Oli not to panic over the colour.
Lately, political parties have been accusing each other of using colours on ballot papers, symbols and swastikas.

Furthermore, Aryal said the EC has been conducting programmers under Voters Registration Update Programme, 2022.
Similarly, Aryal said, “The process of scrutiny of the applications of 80 political parties, who have filed applications for registration of their party for local poll, has reached the final stage.”

Furthermore, EC has also accepted the lowest-rated bid for the procurement of 23 types of election materials required for the local polls and the process of agreement has moved forward.
Aryal further informed that the list of the chief electoral officers and election officers to be deployed in the local level elections had been received from the concerned bodies and these lists were currently under study.