KATHMANDU, March 22: The Election Commission (EC), which has remained without any commissioners since a couple of months, is all set to get a full shape again following a decision of the Constitutional Council to recommend to the president to make appointments to the vacant positions at the constitutional body.
According to Information and Communication Minister Madhav Poudel, a meeting of the Constitutional Council held at Singh Durbar on Thursday evening recommended to President Ram Baran Yadav to appoint Nilkantha Uprety as chief election commissioner and Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, Ayodhi Prasad Yadav, Dr Rambhakta PB Thakur and Ila Sharma as commissioners of the EC. [break]
Uprety and Gurung had retired as acting chief election commissioners while Yadav had retired as commissioner.
Thakur is a former chief of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who also served as Nepal´s ambassador to Egypt. Sharma is a former journalist who has also worked as a consultant to UNDP on trade law issues after Nepal joined the World Trade Organisation.
A meeting of the constitutional council. (Photo: Bhaswor Ojha)
According to sources, the chief election commissioner and commissioners are likely to be given their appointments on Friday. As per the constitution, the president administers the oath of office and secrecy to the chief election commissioner and the latter administers oath to the commissioners.
The Constitutional Council, which itself got full shape on Wednesday, took the decision as per the recommendations of the High Level Political Committee (HLPC), which is coordinated by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The four political entities--UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF)--had already agreed on the reappointment of Uprety, Gurung and Yadav while the HLPC had reached consensus Wednesday on appointing Thakur and Sharma as election commissioners.
The Interim Election Council, which has been formed mainly to hold fresh polls for the Constituent Assembly (CA), has been unable to announce the poll dates as the EC has remained without a head.
Asked about the announcement of a date for fresh elections, Poudel, who is also spokesperson of the Interim Election Council, said, “Once the chief election commissioner and commissioners assume office, we will speedily announce the date for new polls after consulting them.”
However, the HLPC has recommended June 18 to the Interim Election Council for CA polls.
EC officials have been stating that the constitutional body cannot make all the preparations for fresh polls as it cannot take policy-level decisions in the absence of the chief election commissioner and other commissioners.
The EC, which is currently busy with pre-election preparations, has already asked for Rs 7 billion to conduct the polls.
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