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Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the Election Commission.

He filed the writ at the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon demanding annulment of the decision of the Election Commission to recognize the party formed after splitting the original party.

Saying that the new party is unconstitutional, Yadav demanded an interim order to scrap the decision of the Election Commission who gave recognition to that party.

The hearing on the writ will be held on Wednesday.

Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal senior leader Ashok Rai along with seven lawmakers formed a new party (Janata Samajbadi Party) and registered it at the Election Commission when Yadav was in the United States.

The Election Commission gave recognition to the new party last Monday.

Now, his party has only five lawmakers.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya submitted the 'Report on the By-election to the Member of House of Representatives and the Province Assembly, 2081 BS', along with the election results to President Ram Chandra Paudel on Thursday.

Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya presented to the President the By-election, 2081 BS Report in accordance with the Clause 62 of the House of Representatives Member Election Act, 2074 BS, states a communiqué issued by spokesperson at the Office of the President, Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has urged the Election Commission (EC) to provide it with details of the work execution committee of the political parties.

According to the Ministry, a decision was taken to write to the EC demanding the details of office-bearers of all the central, province and district level work execution committees of the political parties.

Secretariat of the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Sumana Shrestha, said the details of the political parties affiliated working committees, which are in record of the EC, have been sought in order to forward the action against those teachers affiliated in the political parties.

After receiving the record from the EC, the Ministry would cross check the details of teachers and employees, which the ministry has, and office-bearers of the work execution committee of the political parties, it is said.

Minister Shrestha has been warning of a forwarding process for legal action against the teachers and staff if they were found holding positions in the work execution committees of the political parties. According to the Secretariat, the Ministry has received complaints about the issue that teachers and staff working at community schools have taken membership of different political parties, are holding positions in work execution committees and are party's general convention delegates.

Earlier, the Ministry had already sent a circular to District-based all education development and coordination units to take action against those teachers and staff, who are members of political parties' work execution committee.

Some of the district units have already forwarded action as per the circular.

A ministerial decision had already been taken to remove teachers holding position on political parties' work execution committees as per the existing laws and court's order and inform the Ministry about this and taking action continuously on such complaints of same nature.

The Election Commission (EC) provided election symbols to candidates of by-elections of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The by-elections are scheduled to be held in Ilam-2 and Bajhang-1 on April 27.

A total of 20 candidates, including 12 from different political parties and eight independent candidates had filed their nominations in Ilam.

Of them, an independent candidate Keshav Kumar Chapagain withdrew his candidacy. The name list of the remaining 19 candidates was published and they were provided with election symbols.

Similarly, in Bajhang, 12 candidates from 12 political parties had registered their nominations. Of them, a candidate of Nepali Janata Dal, Ashok Sunar, withdrew his candidacy and election symbols were provided to the remaining 11 candidates, according to the EC.

The Election Commission has sought submissions from political parties, civil society, media, and all the stakeholders concerned over the Political Parties Act-2017 as it aims to enhance the effectiveness of managing and regulating political parties.

The EC has constituted the Act Amendment Directive Committee coordinated by an election commissioner and the Act Amendment Drafting Committee headed by EC secretary and these committees have taken ahead the process for amending the Act, according to EC assistant spokesperson Ram Datta Pandeya.

The EC intends to facilitate substantive discussions among concerned entities on various aspects, including internal democracy in political parties, party membership, fund management, financial transparency, implementation of party statutes, dispute resolution mechanisms, decision archiving, and voluntary economic assistance.

Similarly, it aims to facilitate discussions on transparency, preparations of election manifesto and its enforcement, provisions for party separation and formation, accounting and auditing standards, single electoral symbol utilization, code of conduct enforcement, and the State funding for political parties. The aim is to address these issues appropriately and reach conclusive decisions.

The Election Commission has directed the political parties to inform it if they have made any changes and amendments to their names, statute, rules, stamp, flag and symbol as well as changes in their office-bearers within 30 days.

The EC, in accordance with Section 51 of Political Parties related Act, 2073, asked the political parties to submit the details in the stipulated format.

It said that the political parties were directed to submit the details in order to stop the trend of not providing information about the changes made in the party for a long time.

A press release issued by EC Assistant Spokesperson, Dr Thaneshowr Bhusal, stated that the parties were asked to submit the details only after making a decision from the party's general convention or central executive committee, which is in EC's record, or approved from general convention if possible.

Distribution of party membership, election, nomination and appointment of office-bearers and members including central committee should be as per political party related act, mentioned EC.

Likewise, the EC urged the political parties to make arrangements for their financial transactions through banks, keeping the accounting record in the specified format.

The Election Commission has urged all eligible Nepali citizens, who missed to register their name in voters' name list due to various reasons, to register their names before announcement of the date for the by-election.

It has started internal preparation for determining the date for by-election as per the law on appropriate time by consulting with the government of Nepal to fill up the vacant posts through by-poll.

The EC today urged the eligible Nepali citizens across the country, who missed to register their names in voters' list due to various reasons, especially the eligible citizens of concerned local-levels, province assembly constituency and House of Representatives constituency to register their name in electoral roll before announcement of the date for by-election.

A total of 23 posts had fallen vacant in different local levels, province assembly and House of Representatives after local-level election held on April 23 and election for the Province Assembly and HoR on November 20, 2023.

The EC has been regularly registering voter name lists through province and district election offices.

A press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel reads that the EC is confident that all the eligible Nepali citizens across the country have been registered in the electoral roll as per the existing legal provision related to voter registration.

The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday submitted a report of the recently held National Assembly (NA) election to President Ram Chandra Paudel.

The NA election was held in all seven provinces on January 25 to elect 19 NA members. 

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya submitted the report amid a function in the President House, Sheetal Niwas.

Spokesperson at the Office of the President, Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai, said that the EC submitted the report on National Assembly Election, 2080 along with the election result as per the clause 60 of the NA Election Act, 2075 BS. 

Election Commissioners Ram Prasad Bhandari, Dr Janaki Kumara Tuladhar, Sagun Shumsher JBR and Secretary Surya Prasad Gautam were present on the occasion.

The Election Commission has directed the government and the Home Ministry to make arrangements of movement of candidates and voters only after coordinating with respective District Administration Office while participating in election related programs for the National Assembly election scheduled for January 25.

The government has been asked to make necessary security arrangements on the route leading to polling stations and residential areas of Province Assembly members, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities and mayors, deputy-mayors as they are the voters and they live in different places in the province.

Twenty seats at the NA are going to be vacant from March 3. Of 20 seats, the election is scheduled for 19 seats on January 25. 

The EC issued such directives on the basis of recommendation of the High-Level Election Security Committee formed under Election Security (Management) Directive-2078 in view of possible security challenges, said Assistant Spokesperson at the EC, Shreedhar Panthi.

Office of the Election Officers have already been established at the Province Election Office in Morang, Dhanusha, Makawanpur, Dang, Surkhet and Kailali and election code of conduct has been enforced since January 16.

The EC, through the Government of Nepal, and the Home Ministry, directed the security bodies to ensure effective and reliable election security arrangements making the District Election Security Committee active and to provide details after carrying out necessary supervision in course of implementation of election code of conduct.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced a code of conduct for the election of 19 National Assembly members slated for Jan 25, to be effective from Jan 16 till Jan 26.  

The code bars the use of public resources or assets for or against any party or candidate from Jan 16 to 26; use of government or public institutions or educational institutions for conducting poll-related gatherings or campaigns; production as well as use of materials with symbols of any party or candidate and publication as well as sharing of promotional contents through social media. 

It also prohibits officials of central, provincial and local executive bodies from using government resources and equipment for electioneering. 

In Nepal’s bicameral parliament, NA or the upper house consists of 59 members, of which 56 members are elected through the electoral college while three, including at least one woman, is nominated by the President on the recommendation of the government.

Ideally, NA is distinct from the lower house, which is dominated by politicians. It serves as an eclectic council of experts and scholars that advise the lower house or the House of Representatives during the lawmaking process. It plays a vital role in holding the HoR and the government to account. The upper house is also a permanent body, and the term of its member can last for a maximum of six years. One-third members retire every two years and elections are held accordingly. 

The Election Commission has reshuffled a team of election officers it appointed earlier in view of the National Assembly election scheduled for January 25.

Most of district judges assigned prior to this to take charge as the NA election officers have been appointed as High Court judges while one has been unwell, prompting the Commission to reshuffle the team.

As per the today's decision of EC, Bishnu Prasad Gautam (Koshi Province), Chitra Bahadur Gurung (Madhesh), Shreeprasad Sanjel (Bagmati), Rhishiram Acharya (Gandaki), Kul Prasad Pandey (Lumbini), Manoj Shrestha (Karnali) and Bishnu Prasad Awasthi (Sudurpashim) have been designated as the NA election officers in the respective provinces. 

As per the election schedule, candidacy nominations for the election will be registered on January 8.

The Election Commission has made necessary preparations for the nomination of candidates for the National Assembly elections scheduled for January 25.

The EC has made clear about the documents to be submitted by the candidates for the nomination.

According to the EC Spokesperson, Shaligram Sharma Paudyal, the candidate should submit a photocopy of Nepali citizenship certificate, document incorporating the name in the final name list of any rural municipality or municipality, voucher or receipt of Rs 10,000 deposit.

There would be a 50 percent discount in deposit money for the woman candidate as well as candidate from the Dalit, marginalized and economically poor community. The respective local level should write a letter saying the candidate is from the poor background. 

The documents required for nomination include an official letter of the selection of candidate from the party in the case of party candidate, the certified paper identifying the candidate as a person belonging to the Dalit community and issued by the rural municipality, municipality or any legally authorized body, in case of a person filing candidacy from the Dalit cluster.

Similarly, any person filing candidacy from the disabled group or minority community should produce the certified certificate of disability issued by the authorized body of Government of Nepal. A person filing candidacy from the minority community should include paper issued by the rural municipality, municipality or any authorized body as per the existing law certifying that the person belongs to the minority community.

Also to be included are the names of the persons proposing and seconding the candidature and certificate stating that the names of the electoral college comprising the member of the Province Council concerned or the Chairperson or Vice Chairperson of the rural municipality of the province concerned and the mayor or deputy mayor of the municipality, as well as their voter identity number.

The Election Commission stated that other documents to be included are the property details of the candidate, mentioning the house number, the place of residence and land, a self-declaration that the person has not been disqualified by any federal law, and also the self-declaration mentioning that the person has not occupied any post drawing salary or economic facilities from the government fund, except the political post to be filled from election or nomination.

The Commission stated that the person filing candidacy should produce the paper indicating the registration of resignation from the post that he/she has been holding if that person is holding any public post or elected position, as well as a copy of the letter issued by the Election Commission showing that the person had withdrawn his/her name from the closed list under the proportional electoral system of the last election to the Member of the House of Representatives or of the National Assembly.

The term of 19 members elected to the National Assembly and one member nominated to the Assembly by the President is ending on March 3.

The Election Commission (EC) has endorsed the voter list in view of the upcoming election to the National Assembly, the upper house of the Federal Parliament, scheduled to take place on January 25. 

As per the endorsed voter list, there are a total of 2,047 voters who include Province Assembly (PA) members, chairs and vice-chairs of rural municipalities and mayors and deputy-mayors of municipalities for the upper house election.

Of them, 549 are PA members and 1,498 are local representatives. Though there should be a total 550 voters from the PA, one member is no more and it has been fixed at 549.

Likewise, names of one rural chair, one vice chair and one deputy mayor are not in the voter list as they have already passed away. Similarly, the names of one rural municipality chair and four mayors have been excluded in the list as they currently remain suspended from the posts, according to a press statement issued by Commission Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel. 

The total weightage of vote of PA members is 29,097, and it is 28,462 of local representatives: 57,500 in total. The voting weightage of a PA member is 53 followed by 19 of a local people's representative as fixed by the Commission.

The voter’s name list will be available in the election officers' office by January 5 and it could be corrected through a certain procedure if needed. The EC will publish the final list on January 7.