The Elections Commission (EC) has extended the daily deadline for submitting nominations for the upcoming Local Council Elections and Women’s Development Committee (WDC) elections by two hours.

The nomination process for the elections opened on 17 January, with the overall deadline for submitting candidacy forms set for 1 February.

Under the revised schedule, nominations can now be submitted from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm on all days except Friday. On Fridays, submissions will be accepted from 3:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

Previously, candidacy forms were accepted from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on weekdays, and from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm on Fridays.

The EC said it has so far accepted nominations from 1,040 candidates for the Local Council Elections. Of these, 852 applications were submitted by political parties, while 188 were submitted by independent candidates.

For the Women’s Development Committee elections, a total of 817 candidacy forms have been received. This includes 692 applications submitted by political parties and 125 by individuals.