March 8: The Election Commission said that it had completed preparations for the presidential election slated for Thursday.
An eight-party alliance, including Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Center, has fielded Ram Chandra Poudel as the candidate for the head of the state while CPN-UML’s Subash Chandra Nembang has thrown his hat in the ring for the ceremonial post of the president. 

The voting time has been fixed from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on Thursday. The commission plans to start vote counting at 4 pm at Annapurna Sky Hall and declare the final results by Thursday night itself. “We are preparing to announce the results of the voting on Thursday itself,” said the Election Commission.

Two voting centers have been set up in the federal parliament building-one each for federal land provincial lawmakers.  Election officer Mahesh Sharma Poudel said the voters will not be allowed to carry devices barred by the laws to the voting centres.

Lawmakers of House of Representatives, National Assembly and seven provinces will be eligible to cast their votes in the presidential poll. The election will be held on the weighted voting system.  A candidate must secure a majority of the total votes to secure the top job.  A total of 881 lawmakers will cast their vote in the presidential election if no one abstains.