KATHMANDU, August 1: The Election Commission (EC) has instructed the government and local units to take action against government employees, professors, teachers or employees who are members of political parties. On Sunday, the spokesperson for the Commission, Shaligram Sharma Poudel said that action will be taken against the incumbent employees who are members of various political parties.

According to the EC, a person holding the position of professor, teacher or employee of a self-governing institution owned or controlled by the Nepal government, provincial government or local government, and a person who is ineligible to be a member of a political party in accordance with the constitution and laws due to holding any public office, cannot be a member of any political party. Poudel said through a statement that the Nepal government, provincial governments and local governments have been instructed through the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to take action according to the prevailing laws after informing about the incident.

The Commission shall ensure that the political parties registered in accordance with the Constitution of Nepal and the Political Parties Act, 2073 fully comply with Section 14 (2) of the Political Parties Act, 2073 while distributing memberships in accordance with the party statutes, and the details of the membership distributed in this way shall be available from the Commission upon request. According to Section 57 of the Act on Political Parties, 2073, all political parties were instructed to organize and update the Nepali citizenship certificates and voter ID cards issued by the Commission at the local, provincial and central levels.

Section 14 of the Political Party Act, 2073 has made clear arrangements regarding the distribution of party membership. Sub-section (1) of that section provides that the office-bearer of the party authorized by the party’s statute can distribute membership of the party, and sub-section (2) provides that when membership is distributed, those who have completed 18 years of age, and are not guilty of corruption, coercion, rape, human trafficking, drug traffciking, money laundering etc should be provided the membership.

Similarly membership cannot be provided to incumbent professors, teachers or employees of a self-governing institution owned or controlled by the Government of Nepal, provincial  governments or local governments, or those who have not been sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking and transportation, sale, distribution and exportation or smuggling of narcotic drugs, money laundering, kidnapping or other criminal offenses showing moral turpitude. 

"The political party is responsible for distributing membership and ensuring if any person is not eligible for the membership of the party concerned, and the responsibility to update the details of the distributed members and keep them at the local level, provincial  level and central level according to the party's is also the responsibility of the political party concerned. The Commission has reminded all the political parties to distribute membership according to the law,”  he said.

 
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