The remaining two candidates have yet to appear before the EC. They have until Tuesday to present their defense.[break]
Last Wednesday, the commission had asked all seven candidates to come up with necessary defense against the complaints filed against their respective candidacies on Saturday.
Dismissing the complaints lodged against their respective candidacies, they have argued that they deserve to become member of CA.
UCPN (Maoist) candidate Bal Krishna Dhungel, who presented his defense through a representative on Saturday before the EC, has said that he must be allowed to contest the upcoming polls as he was allowed to contest the 2008 elections.
He has maintained that the recently introduced provision relating to ineligibility of a candidate in the Ordinance on Election of Members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) is a part of conspiracy to bar him from contesting the polls.
Clause 19 (e) of the ordinance on election of members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) states that anyone sentenced to life imprisonment or life with property attachment by a final verdict of the court will be disqualified from contesting elections.
Dhungel, in his defense presented before the EC, has also claimed that the government has already withdrawn the case against him in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Accord 2006.
The Supreme Court (SC) back in 2001 had upheld an order of the Okhaldhunga District Court and convicted Dhungel of murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha.
Two UCPN (Maoist) candidates Anita Kumari Pariyar and Dhana Maya BK Khanal, who have been accused of continuing to hold National Dalit Commission posts even after being nominated for PR seats, have claimed that they are no more in the body.
Pariyar and BK Khanal, in their separate defenses, have told the EC that they resigned the commission posts before the submission of the closed lists of PR candidates by the political parties.
Likewise, UCPN (Maoist) candidate Hari Ram Shreepaeeli has told the EC that he is not holding any office of profit as claimed in the complaint.
Defending her eligibility, Bimala Laxmi Shah of League Nepal Shanti Ekata Party has said that she does not possess dual citizenship. Shah has also rejected the allegation that she was involved in fraudulent activities involving a cooperative organization. She told the commission that she had taken loan from a cooperative and has already repaid it.
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