Minister Paudel gave statement in favor of the NOC while furnishing clarification at the house about the controversial election. Lawmakers on August 3 had pointed out flaws in the NOC election process.Lawmakers of three major political parties - Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist - on August 3 had alleged that the election scheduled for August 6 was against its own statute. The lawmakers had also demanded that the NOC election be stopped. In response to the concerns of the lawmakers, Speaker of the Parliament, Subas Nembang, directed Minister Paudel to furnish clarifications.
The NOC later postponed the election admitting that it did not meet the requirements of its own statute and has vowed to conduct the election on September 3, strictly following the statute.
Similarly, Patan Appellate Court on August 5 had issued an interim order to ensure participation of three sports associations - Nepal Wrestling Association, Nepal Rafting and Canoeing Association (NRCA) and Nepal Karate Federation (NKF) - in the NOC election. However, the NOC has been claiming that those sports bodies are not recognized internationally and are parallel bodies of the associations already registered at the NOC. Thus they would not be eligible to participate in the election.
On Friday, Minster Paudel said that only the associations affiliated to the NOC would get voting rights as per the NOC statute. He also said that the Sports Ministry was concerned about the postponed election which was also attended by International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) representatives.
"NOC is a body affiliated to the United Nations (UN) and has its own statute and international recognition. Nepal has approved the IOC Charter as per the proposal of the UN. Since Nepal is also the signatory member of the IOC, it becomes mandatory as the law. Thus, we should not violate the statute of the NOC," Paudel told the lawmakers.
"It will also be against the OCA and IOC charter to ensure the participation of Nepal Wrestling Association, Nepal Rafting and Canoeing Association (NRCA) and Nepal Karate Federation (NKF) as per the verdict of the Patan Appellate Court," he added.
He also said that the ministry had already started the process to conduct the election as per the established norms and procedures as asked by the Parliamentary Committee on Women, Children and Social Welfare. Paudel also expressed commitment to conduct the election as per the NOC, OCA and IOC statute abiding by the standard norms and procedure of democracy.
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