BHAKTAPUR, May 23: No green signal is seen yet to resume the vote count of Chagunarayan Municipality in Bhaktapur that has remained stalled for the past four days following the political dispute over its transparency.
An all-party meeting held today to forge an agreement to resume the vote count ended inconclusively.
According to the Office of the Returning Officer, Changunarayan, the meeting held as per the direction from the Election Commission to restart the vote count failed to find a consensus on the issue.
The meeting attended by District Chief Returning Officer Bhojraj Sharma, Chief District Officer Drona Pokhrel, election candidates and representatives of political parties lasted for four hours in the hope of a consensus, but to no avail.
It is noted that the Nepali Congress (NC), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) obstructed the vote counting citing lack of 'fairness' and transparency in the counts of wards no. 3 and 4. They have accused employees in the vote counting team of being close to the CPN (UML) and 'unethical favor' to the party.
Their claim is that votes cast for NC and NWPP were included in the UML's name.
They have demanded a re-count of votes and reshuffle in the vote counting team.
The EC on Monday wrote to the District Election Office, Bhaktapur refusing the possibility of re-count of votes cast in wards no. 1 and 2, but cited the possibility of a re-count in case of wards no 3 and 4 on the basis of political consensus.
In the today's meeting, political parties except the UML declined to budge from their previous stance while the UML said that it would not allow the re-count of particular wards (no. 3 and 4). RSS
Vote count rescheduled at 1 pm in Biratnagar Metropolis (Update...
