Kathmandu: The government has made legal provisions to revise the percentage of inclusive groups under the proportional representation electoral system in line with the latest population data.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday approved an ordinance to amend the House of Representatives Members Act, 2074. The ordinance, which has been forwarded to the President for promulgation, aligns the representation of various social groups with the final report of the National Census 2078.

The amendment aims to determine updated proportional quotas for Dalit, Indigenous Peoples, Khas Arya, Madhesi, Tharu and Muslim communities based on their current population ratios, as required under the constitutional arrangements for the House of Representatives.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Jagadish Kharel said the ordinance was necessary to revise the schedule of the Election Act in accordance with the caste and community distribution reflected in the latest census data.

Earlier, following discussions at the Election Commission on November 10, a six-member committee coordinated by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Law Subhash Kumar Bhattarai had calculated revised inclusive percentages based on the census. The committee’s recommendations formed the basis for determining cluster-wise representation for the 110 proportional seats.

As per the Constitution, the 275-member House of Representatives comprises 165 members elected through the direct system and 110 through proportional representation. In the upcoming elections, political parties will be required to prepare and submit their closed lists of candidates in accordance with the newly determined percentages.

The allocation of seats will ultimately depend on the votes received by political parties, and the ordinance provides the legal framework to apply the latest census figures in this process.