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The Election Commission has designated seven polling stations and 14 centers for the National Assembly elections scheduled for January 25.

Election Commission spokesperson Rekha Sharma Paudel said that the Commission has fixed seven polling stations—one in each province and two centers in each polling center—and 14 polling centers.

The Commission has designated polling stations at Province Election Office Biratnagar, Morang for Koshi Province, Mahendra Narayan Nidhi Mithila Cultural Center, Janakpurdham and Dhanush for Madhes Province.

Similarly, the election body has fixed Shree Bhutandevi Technical School, Block ‘F’ technical building Hetauda, Makwanpur for Bagmati Province, Province Election Office, Pokhara, Kaski for Gandaki Province, building of Karmachar Milan Kendra, Ghorahi, Dang for Lumbini Province, Province Election Office, Surkhet for Karnali Province and Province Assembly building, Dhangadhi, Kailali for Sudurpaschim Province.

The Commission said that there will be separate polling centers for the Province Assembly members and chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the rural municipalities and chiefs and deputy chiefs of the municipalities to cast their votes.

The voting will be held from 9 am to 3 pm.

Foreign Minister NP Saud and his Sri Lankan counterpart M U M Ali Sabry held a meeting on Thursday.

During the meeting, the two leaders discussed Nepal-Sri Lanka relations and potential areas of cooperation, the Foreign Ministry said.

He arrived in Kathmandu to take part in the first meeting of Nepal-Sri Lanka Joint Commission set to be held in Kathmandu on Dec 21-22.

It has been mentioned that the Joint Commission will focus on various areas of bilateral cooperation between Nepal and Sri Lanka including trade and investment, tourism, education, defense, culture, connectivity and public relations.

After the meeting of the Joint Commission, a memorandum of understanding will be signed for cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation.

During his stay in Nepal, the Sri Lankan minister is also scheduled to pay courtesy calls on President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Sabry will return home on Saturday.

The Election Commission (EC) has endorsed the voter list in view of the upcoming election to the National Assembly, the upper house of the Federal Parliament, scheduled to take place on January 25. 

As per the endorsed voter list, there are a total of 2,047 voters who include Province Assembly (PA) members, chairs and vice-chairs of rural municipalities and mayors and deputy-mayors of municipalities for the upper house election.

Of them, 549 are PA members and 1,498 are local representatives. Though there should be a total 550 voters from the PA, one member is no more and it has been fixed at 549.

Likewise, names of one rural chair, one vice chair and one deputy mayor are not in the voter list as they have already passed away. Similarly, the names of one rural municipality chair and four mayors have been excluded in the list as they currently remain suspended from the posts, according to a press statement issued by Commission Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel. 

The total weightage of vote of PA members is 29,097, and it is 28,462 of local representatives: 57,500 in total. The voting weightage of a PA member is 53 followed by 19 of a local people's representative as fixed by the Commission.

The voter’s name list will be available in the election officers' office by January 5 and it could be corrected through a certain procedure if needed. The EC will publish the final list on January 7.

President Ram Chandra Paudel appointed six justices for the Supreme Court.

President Paudel appointed them as SC justices on Wednesday after the Parliamentary Hearing Committee endorsed their names.

The President appointed Saranga Shrestha, Abdul Aziz Musalman, Mahesh Sharma Paudel, Tek Prasad Dhungana, Sunil Kumar Pokharel and Bal Krishna Dhakal as SC justices at the recommendation of the Judicial Council as per Article 129 (2) of the Constitution.

Earlier this morning, the Parliamentary Hearing Committee endorsed six nominees for Supreme Court justices.

Pokharel and Dhakal are advocates while Shrestha, Musalman, Paudel and Dhungana are High Court judges.