Nepal poll panel extends deadline for candidates

Kathmandu: Nepal`s Election Commission today extended till December 18 the deadline for political parties to submit their list of proportional representation candidates chosen on the basis of results of the recent Constituent Assembly polls.

The deadline was due to end today. Election Commission Deputy Secretary Laxmidevi Humagai announced the extension in a statement issued here. Under the proportional representation system, 335 members of the Constituent Assembly will be chosen according to the proportion of votes secured by political parties in the November 19 election. The Nepali Congress, which emerged as the single largest party, had demanded the extension of the deadline on Monday. The poll panel`s decision came in the wake of a decision by a 16-party alliance, led by the UCPN-Maoist, to boycott the Constituent Assembly. The alliance has demanded an independent probe to examine alleged irregularities in the polls, in which the UCPN-Maoist was relegated to third position after bagging 80 seats in the 601-member Constituent Assembly.