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The Election Commission has issued permission to six organizations for the election observation of the by-election for the member of House of Representatives (HoR) going to be held on April 23. The notice issued by the Commission today said that six of seven organizations that had applied for observation were selected as per the Election Observation Directive-2079 BS. The selection was based on the fulfillment of the due process for observation, according to Shaligram Sharma Poudel, Spokesperson of the Commission. The organizations getting permission are the National Election Observation Committee (NEOC), INSEC, Good-governance Federation Nepal, World Consumer Federation-Nepal, Former Judges Forum Nepal and Forum for Nation Building Nepal. Persons recommended by these selected organizations will be allowed to observe the by-elections in Bara-2, Tanahun-2 and Chitwan-2.

The Election Commission (EC) has launched a voter education training for volunteers in all three constituencies for the HoR by-election scheduled for April 23. The two-day training to be held on April 10-11 will prepare volunteers, two of them to be deployed at each of Bara constituency 2, Tanahun constituency 1 and Chitwan constituency 2, it has been said. Election commissioner Dr Janaki Kumari Tuladhar inaugurated the training at Tanahun constituency 1, the EC secretary Gokarna Mani Duwadi at Chitwan 2 and under-secretary Surya Prasad Aryal- at Bara 2. The volunteers are tasked with providing voter education. Their remuneration is Rs 1,000 per day.

A meeting of the top leaders of the major political parties, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chief whips ended inconclusively on Tuesday. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, former Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Speaker Devraj Ghimire and chief whips among others were present in the meeting held in Baluwatar this morning. A Baluwatar source said that the next meeting will be held in Singha Durbar at 1 pm on April 14. Though the leaders have agreed to make the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) among other bills ‘widely acceptable’, they have decided hold discussions on matters of the TRC bill and its procedures again, it has been learnt. The leaders have also agreed to decide on the leadership and representation of joint committees and other committees on the basis of consensus. UML Chief Whip Padam Giri, CPN (Maoist Center) Chief Whip Hit Raj Pandey, Nepali Congress lawmaker Ishwori Neupane, Attorney General Dinmani Pokharel, former Attorney General Ramesh Badal also took part in the meeting. After the main opposition rejected the government’s proposal to take the TRC bill ahead through fast track, the government has not taken forward the proposal yet.  

Lawmaker and Nepali Congress general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa has suggested to the government to immediately hold dialogue with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). Speaking in the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Thapa urged Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to hold discussions with KMC without any delay and prejudice. "Let dialogue be held promptly with the metropolis regarding its decision of not collecting garbage from Singha Durbar and other places. Topics that have to be sorted out now should be done so. The justified demands (of KMC) should be fulfilled," he said and called for also involving the people's representatives from the Kathmandu Valley in this dialogue process. KMC has not picked up the garbage from Singha Durbar and places citing the Federal Government have not lent enough support to it in its plan of making the metropolis well-managed. Lawmaker Thapa said, "Let the Prime Minister take the initiation today itself and hold talks with KMC to address the conflict seen with the KMC. This matter should be finalized and also it should not be abandoned thinking that the matter is addressed for now. Let the Federal Government bring the required legislation in the parliament. We are ready to work to that end." Stating that a conflict has been seen between Bag Durbar (read KMC) and Singha Durbar (the Executive), he said, "We will debate whether the local government's style, language, tone while pressing for getting its demands heard by obstructing the essential services is right or wrong."