Millions of people who are entitled to vote at their polling station due to employment, profession and business have been deprived of voting. Currently, there is a debate about providing voting facilities to Nepalis living abroad. Before that, should this exercise be done in the case of those who have to leave their own homes inside the country? Stakeholders suggest that the government and the Election Commission should prioritize this work which can be done immediately.

They have said that the necessary legal arrangements should be made and the work should be started in order to implement it in the elections scheduled for February 21. The Election Law has been providing such facility to government employees, Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police. However, employees working in the private sector, students or people involved in professional business are exempted from it. That number is huge. There is a large number of such voters who are not able to reach their polling station and cast their vote even though they are inside the country.

We are saying that we will provide voting facilities to Nepali migrants, let's do that too, before that, let's give the opportunity to vote to the people inside the country. - Pradeep Pokharel, election observer

The Election Commission analyzed that at least 1.3 lakh voters in the 2079 general election did not reach their polling stations despite staying within the country. There was 62 percent voting in that election. In the study and analysis of why the remaining 38 percent of the voters did not come to vote, it was shown that the percentage of votes was low due to the fact that they were abroad and did not come to their place to vote even though they were inside the country. "Since there is an estimated analysis, that number may be slightly lower," said the commission source. "There are many people who don't go to vote because they don't get leave, because they don't know how to leave their business, and they don't go to vote because of their travel expenses," he said. We are talking about providing voting facilities to expatriate Nepalis. Let's do that too. And before that, let's give the opportunity to vote within the country. Let's provide the facility of voting to whoever has the facility. This will increase voter participation in the election, he said.

Any voter who is a permanent resident of the ward of the constituency must be named in the voter list of the polling station and must be present and vote there. The Voter's List Act 2073 states that the name of a person who has a permanent residence in a rural municipality or municipal ward within the respective constituencies for the election of members of the House of Representatives and members of the Provincial Assembly shall be included in the voter's list. As a result, people who have temporarily settled in Kathmandu or other cities away from their villages have been deprived of voting.

Election Supervisor Pokharel said that although it is possible to accept the issue of having to go to the constituency and vote in the first place election system (direct), it is not fair to apply the same system to the proportional election system. Under the proportional electoral system, the entire country is considered as one constituency. That is why every voter should have the right to vote from anywhere on a proportional basis, he said.

Everyone should have the right to vote, there may be difficulty in direct voting, but it can be done proportionally.-Gopinath Mainali, former secretary, Election Commission

Pokharel, who is the founding president of Samati Nepal and currently an advisor to the organization, says that whoever is there should be given the right to vote proportionally from the polling station that is available there. "We have been continuously trying for this, we have been telling the government and the commission," he said. This facility should be provided in that election. We are also asking the government and the officials of the commission to meet soon and prepare for this matter. The House of Representatives Election Act stipulates that under the proportional election system, the entire country is considered as a constituency, and the candidate representing that party will be elected as a member of the House of Representatives in proportion to the total number of votes received by each party. Nepal has adopted a mixed election system in a direct and equitable manner. In the election of 2079, voting facility was provided to the government employees, army, police, inmates in prisons and those in old age homes.

Section 30 of the Electoral Roll Act has provisions related to the provisional voter roll. In it, there is a provision that names of employees working in Nepal government, provincial government, local level and government institutes, army in barracks, police, armed police, detainees and prisoners in prisons can be kept in the temporary voter list. Similarly, the staff and security personnel assigned to the election and the people in old age homes operating with government permission have that facility.

Currently, voting is around 60 to 65 percent, the more participation of voters, the better the election is considered.- Birendra Prasad Mishra, Pre-Election Commissioner 

The observers and journalists who will be deployed in the field on the day of the election are not attached to that facility. Likewise, students, workers, professions, and those involved in business are deprived of that facility. Former Secretary of the Commission Gopinath Mainali says that other people can also be included in the provisional voter list by reforming Kanu. Everyone should have the right to vote. There may be difficulties in the direct direction. However, it can be done proportionally," he said. "Proportionally, it is easy because the whole of Nepal is called one constituency. Legal reforms and some managerial preparations are the work to be done. It can be done from now on. Although a lot of preparation is needed to provide voting facilities to those who are abroad, it is not a big problem to allow those who are inside Nepal and cannot reach their places on the day of voting to cast their votes proportionally from the respective places, he said. Election observer Pokharel says that even on the day of voting, 10/15 thousand people leave the airport, so they should also have the right to vote. If possible, let's provide the facility of voting in advance to those who are planning to go abroad. Let's do early voting at least a week before, otherwise let's put a ballot box at the airport on the day of voting," he said. "This will allow people to exercise their rights. On the other hand, the feature of democracy is that more and more people participate in elections. He says that he is in favor of providing this facility in hospitals as well as in prisons and old age homes. There is also a significant number of people who are in the hospital due to illness and are unable to go to their villages to vote due to age.