KATHMANDU, March 23: President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has written to the Interim Election Council of Ministers to clarify whether its recommendations to reappoint former election commissioners would breach existing constitutional provisions.
President Yadav wrote to the chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi after the council recommended to him to reappoint former Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Upreti as Chief Election Commissioner and another former acting chief election commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung and former Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav as commissioners.[break]
The president´s letter has asked whether their reinstatement would attract Clause 3 and 7 of the Article 128 of the Interim Constitution. Article 128 has provisions about the Election Commission and appointment of commissioners.
While Clause 3 of the Article 128 of the Interim Constitution states that the term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners shall be six years from the date of appointment, Clause 7 of the same Article states that a person once appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner or the Election Commissioner shall not be eligible for appointment in other government services.
President Yadav´s press advisor Rajendra Dahal said the letter was just to draw the government´s attention to those particular provisions of the Interim Constitution. "The recommendations have neither been rejected, nor been sent back. The president will do the needful after government gives clarification on those constitutional provisions," said Dahal.
Following a letter from the President´s Office, a meeting of the High Level Political Committee was held at the official residence of Council Chairman Regmi in Baluwatar. Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, UCPN (Maoist) Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) Coordinator Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar were present at the meeting.
According to Chairman Regmi´s press advisor R P Pandey, the one-hour long meeting discussed contemporary political issues including the reappointment of the former election commissioners.
Minister for Information and Communications Madhav Poudel, who is also the government´s spokesperson, said the government had held detailed discussion on the issues raised by President Yadav before forwarding those names through the Constitutional Committee to the President´s Office for their reappointment. "I don´t see there are any constitutional difficulties to reappoint them in the Election Commission," he said.
Poudel said that clause 20 of the 25-point constitutional amendments made earlier by the President Dr Yadav clearly states that the appointments in the constitutional bodies will be made by the Constitutional Council as per the recommendation of the High Level Political Committee. He said that since the recommendation was made by the CC as per the recommendation of the High Level Political Committee, there should not be any problem in reappointing them in the EC.
Poudel said a meeting of the High Level Political Committee is scheduled for Saturday to hold detailed discussions on the issue. "We will send the government´s response to the President´s office after the meeting," he said.
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