elecyion

70,000 PLUS REGISTER FOR POLLS
Kathmandu, Aug 22: The total number of eligible voters registered their names in the voter’s list by Wednesday reached 70,559 under the ongoing fresh round of the voter registration process resumed on last Saturday, Amarebdra Yadav writes in The Rising Nepal..

On Wednesday, 13,541 eligible voters alone registered their names at the Election Offices across the country and the kathmandu District Election Office listed the highest number of the voters – 5,255 and only one voter listed his name in Manang District on the day, EC Spokesperson Bir Bahadur Rai said.   

On Tuesday, 21,686 voters had registered their names in the voters’ roll across the country and the Kathmandu District Election Office registered 5,286 voters on the same day, with the highest number of people registering in the country so far. Over 18,287 more voters were registered in the two days beginning Saturday.

The commission had ended its three-month long biometric voter registration in mid-July. As many as 12.3 million eligible voters had registered their names at the EC offices before wrapping up the first round of registration drive.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, EC spokesperson Rai said that the EC is all prepared to hold the Constituent Assembly election as scheduled on November 19 even if the Mohan Baidya -led CPN-Maoist does not participate in the poll process..

According to Rai, holding elections after November would be a complicated affair if the scheduled polls are deferred.

“With or without Baidya, we are all set to hold the polls as scheduled. There is no point in postponing them.” EC spokesperson Rai clarified.

Meanwhile, the EC called on national and international communities to apply for the observation of the upcoming CA election with new provisions.

The Commission has for the first time made the call online. The deadline for submitting applications is till September 10. The new provisions are for making the election monitoring reliable and acceptable at par with world standard.

As per the new provisions, the election observation body should compulsorily visit 100 voting centers in all mountain, hilly and Terai regions.

Besides, those going for election observation for the first time should have an academic qualification of proficiency certificate level. The Commission wants to discourage the trend of visiting only the poll centers which are easily accessible and not in remote belts and make the election monitoring disciplined and reliable.

According to Commissioner Ram Bhakta PB Thakur, the Commission has managed training for those going for election monitoring, and that the license of those not abiding by observation rules and regulations will be revoked.

The Commission would provide identity cards to those deputing for observation after training and provide them certificates only after they submit the report to the Commission.

As many as 148 domestic organisations and around sixty thousand people had been involved in the observation of the first CA election, whereas 854 representatives from 30 international organisations took part in the monitoring.

Of them, only 36 domestic bodies and eight international bodies had submitted the monitoring report, Election Commissioner Dr. Thakur said, adding they would fall under Commission priority for the second CA election.

The Commission had on August 12 issued a public notice and urged the monitoring bodies to apply according to the CA Election Observation Directives- 2070 BS.
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QUEUE TO WORK IN SOUTH KOREA
Kathmandu, 23 Aug.:  Nepalis seeking jobs abroad see South Korea as a charming employment destination, a fact evident from the serpentine queues to submit their application forms for the EPS TOPIK exam.

Passing this exam qualifies one to get a job in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS).

EPS Center in Nepal called applications to participate in the EPS TOPIK exam for four days from Wednesday.

The candidates both male and female aged 18 to 39 can apply for the EPS TOPIK exam. Each application is charged equivalent to US$ 24.

According to Lee Dong Sirk, director of HRD Korea, EPS Center in Nepal, attractive pay and other facilities and good security made South Korea first choice of the Nepalis migrant workers.

He, however, said that there was no full guarantee of getting job permission in South Korea even though the aspirant passes the EPS TOPIK exam.

He asked the candidate to understand the system for getting jobs in Korea before filling up the forms for EPS TOPIK exam.

Lee said that passing the EPS TOPIK exams only opens the door for jobs in Korea. It does not guarantee job immediately.

“The names of the candidate will be put in the roster for foreign jobs in Korea after they pass EPS TOPIK exams. But they must wait until they get job employment permission in Korea,” he.

Finding job will also depend on the need of the Korean employers, he added.

Lee that his office would hold the EPS TOPIK exams more effectively this time for scientific selection of qualified workers.

Ramchandra Giri, manager of EPS Center Nepal said that candidate could fill up forms in three places inside the Kathmandu Valley- at Sano Gaucharan of Gyanwshwor, Siddhartah Banasthali Institute and Laboratory School of Kritipur.

Similarly, EPS centre collects application forms from Butwal and Dharan considering the need of candidates outside the valley, he said.

More than 70,000 Nepali youths are expected to submit applications this time.

He estimated that around 8,200 applicant will pass the EPS TOPIK exam.

EPS Centre in Nepal has conducted EPS TOPIK exam three times already. EPS TOPIK exam will be held on October 6 and 7 this year, he informed.

Around 17,000 Nepali workers are already working in Republic of Korea through EPS in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Under the EPS system, South Korea has been recruiting workers from 15 countries, including Nepal, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan Bangladesh, China and Cambodia.
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