The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday said categorically that they won´t be able to accommodate the agitating parties in the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections scheduled for November 19 if they fail to come to a consensus by Monday on poll participation. [break]
Top EC officials made the commission´s stance clear at a meeting with the heads and representatives of all the diplomatic missions in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
“The EC can accommodate them [disgruntled political parties] in the polls only if the government brings them on board the process through super special legal and constitutional arrangements before the commission starts designing the ballot papers,” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica.
He said the EC will begin designing ballot papers for the fresh CA election from Monday. The chief election commissioner stated that the EC has to decide the order of the political parties and their election symbols on the ballot papers.
The top EC official was responding to a question by the diplomats whether the moves of the dissenting parties could affect the prospects of holding the November poll.
The EC official stated that the government could bring the disgruntled parties on board the election process only through special legal and constitutional arrangements as the usual time line for bringing them on board the election process was over.
However, the top EC official told the diplomats that they were still hopeful the government would bring the disgruntled parties on board.
“We told them [heads and representatives of diplomatic missions] that if a political party does not wish to participate in the election it can stay out,” Uprety said,” “It is not mandatory that each and every political party be registered [with the EC] and participate in the poll.”
The top EC official also maintained that the commission believes the dissenting parties would not create obstructions in the poll even if they do not join the election.
According to the chief election commissioner, the EC invited the heads and representatives of all diplomatic missions in order to inform them about the commission´s preparations for the upcoming CA election.
EC officials briefed the heads and representatives of diplomatic missions about the progress made by the EC for the fresh election, the challenges ahead, poll logistics and the implementation of the election code of conduct, among other issues.
Chief Election Commissioner Uprety said the heads and representatives of diplomatic missions were satisfied with the work being done by the EC for holding the CA election.
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