E-Paper
Nepal EC extends deadline for parties to name lawmakers
The commission extended the time limit, which expired on Tuesday, till December 18 after parties failed to submit names or refused to do so alleging irregularities in the election.
Nepal’s election commission has extended the deadline given to parties for submission of names of candidates to be allotted seats under proportional representation system of November's constituent assembly poll.
The commission extended the time limit, which expired on Tuesday, till December 18 after parties failed to submit names or refused to do so alleging irregularities in the election.
Though the results of the November 19 election were out more than a week ago, Nepal’s post-poll scenario is still hazy as no party has secured majority and many others have refused to accept the verdict.
Nepali Congress, which emerged as the biggest party in the 601-member constituent assembly with a total of 196 seats, had sought more time from the commission due to internal trouble related to candidate selection.
Nepal’s constituent assembly comprises of 245 directly elected candidates, 335 based on the percentage of votes secured by parties and 26 nominated after the assembly starts functioning.
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which came a close second with 175 seats, is also having problems choosing 84 candidates from the large number of aspirants under the proportional representation system.
There is also a tussle underway between NC and CPN (UML), both of which are engaged in talks over power sharing, on whether the President and Vice President should be re-elected.
NC wants both posts to remain unchanged till formulation of the new constitution, but CPN (UML) insists otherwise.
There is also the issue of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the third largest party with 80 seats, which along with nearly a dozen other parties have rejected the poll results alleging rigging.
These parties are demanding an independent probe to investigate the irregularities. And if this demand is not met they have threatened not to take part in proceedings of the constituent assembly.
On Tuesday, the top three parties NC, CPN (UML) and UCPN (M) agreed to resolve all differences and disputes through a high level political committee, which will meet for the first time on Wednesday.
