Ram Kumari Jhakri of CPN-UML had filed complaint against Dhungel.She had demanded that the EC scrap Dhungel´s candidacy stating that he was a convicted of criminal offense by the court.[break]
Spokesperson at EC, Bir Bahadur Rai informed that clarification has been sought from altogether 332 candidates, whose names are under the PR list. Those candidates have to submit clarification by Nov 10.
Mohammad Zakir Hussein of UCPN (Maoist) had lodged complaint against the candidate of the same party Fakeer. Hussein in his complaint has stated that Fakeer is incumbent member of the National Muslim Commission and not qualified to be a PR candidate.
The constitutional body had asked them to appear before the commission in person on Saturday morning with necessary defense against the complaints lodged at its central office. The EC had received complaints against five UCPN (Maoist) candidates -- Dhungel, Anita Kumari Pariyar, Dhana Maya BK Khanal, Hari Ram Shreepali and Usha Sah Fakeer.
The EC decided to annul candidacy of Dhungel on prima facie basis as his candidacy was clearly against the existing law and against the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC).
Clause 19 (e) of the ordinance regarding election of members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) states that anyone sentenced to life imprisonment or life with property attachment by a final verdict of the court will be disqualified from contesting elections.
Similarly, the apex court in September had ruled that a murder convict cannot constest the CA polls. The SC back in 2001 had upheld an order of Okhaldhunga District Court and convicted Dhungel of murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha.
As per article 65 (d) of the interim constitution, a person must not be holding any office of profit in order to become a member of the CA.
Acting on complaints, EC had instructed seven candidates under the proportional representation electoral system to defend their eligibility for contesting the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections scheduled for November 19.
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