KATHMANDU, July 23: The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on Sunday approved the proposal seeking deliberation on the Bill relating to Election of the Member of House of Representatives-2017.
Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma had tabled the proposal at the parliament meeting.
Taking part in the deliberation, Nepali Congress parliamentarian Ram Hari Khatiwada viewed that the timely conduct of remaining elections was responsibility of all the political parties.
He was of the opinion that there should be only First-Past-The-Post election at the parliament.
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Similarly, Bharat Bahadur Khadka from the same party underscored the need for legal provisions to curb the abuse of power and property in the election.
Likewise, CPN-UML Rewati Raman Bhandari demanded a provision so that those political parties which would submit the one third of their closed list could contest the elections rather than those parties who would submit 10 per cent of closed list for the proportional representation.
Another parliamentarian from the same party, Purusottam Poudel, held the view that the Election Commission should be given full autonomy to decide on the date of the elections rather than to the government.
CPN-MC Janakraj Joshi said that although there were some new good practices introduced in view of the elections such as threshold and no vote among others, there was no provisions for the public to recall their elected representatives in case of their dismal performance.
Shakti Bahadur Basnet and Rekha Sharma of the same party maintained that the number of the Member of Parliament should not be increased and the Bill should be endorsed by the parliament through fast track.
Nepal Workers and Peasant Party's Prem Subal said that the threshold should be imposed impartially on all the parties.
CPN-UML's Krishna Bhakta Pokharel commented that the Bill was silent about the women's representation at the parliament through the First-Past-The-Post system.
Other parliamentarians such as Buddiram Bhandari, Gopal Dahit, Meena Pun, Dilli Prasad Kafle, Kamal Prasad Pangeni, Chudamani BK 'Jungali' among others expressed their concerns over the elections that were being held in a loud and extravagant way.
Home Minister assures timely election
Attending to the queries raised by the parliamentarians, Home Minister Sharma reiterated that the government was preparing for the provincial and federal elections.
Stating that the three-tier elections were the first steps towards the implementation of the new constitution, Minister Sharma reaffirmed the government's commitment to holding the third phase of local level election in province no 2 on September 18 and the provincial and federal ones by January, 2018.
Urging the parliamentarians to seek legal provisions to cut down of the expenses relating to the election, he spoke of the need for the political parties to adherence to the election code of conduct.
According to him, the constructive suggestions offered during today's deliberation would be included in the Bill. RSS
