The Election Commission (EC) is set to issue a notice seeking applications from national institutions who want to monitor local level elections set for May 14. EC officials said they have already prepared the criteria for election observers. “A notice will be published once the meeting of commissioners takes the decision for inviting applications from institutions,” said EC Spokesperson Surya Sharma. The election body has said that it will allow only national institutions to observe the elections. It, however, has said it could invite international organisations for a study mission. “We have been holding discussions on inviting foreign embassies in Nepal and election commissions of other countries, including India, with which the EC has signed memorandums of understanding for cooperation to conduct a study of local elections,” said the EC official. But, the EC is yet to decide on ways to involve them in the elections. As far as domestic observers are concerned, those willing to monitor polls will have to submit applications along with the their statutes and certificates provided by the EC that they had observed and submitted reports to the EC after observing elections in the past. Once they are selected, the election body will also screen people selected by the organisations for monitoring polls in different parts of the country. One of the conditions for them is that each institution has to monitor at least 100 polling stations. Another condition set by the EC for election observers is that they should be inclusive. “We will try to ensure inclusiveness while screening the observers from selected institutions,” said the EC official. The observers to be mobilised should have obtained academic qualification of 10+2 but for women observers, they should have passed School Leaving Certificate examination.