Kathmandu: The Election Commission has tweaked a provision that mandates people’s representatives to quit the post before filing nominations in the upcoming local-level elections slated for May 13.
A writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court (SC) demanding to rescind the provision in the code of conduct after it was made public.
The Election Commission has made some changes to the provision after the apex court issued an interim order not to enforce it. As per the provision, people’s representatives vying for the local-level elections should announce that they have not availed of any government facilities including wages.
At a press conference organized on Friday regarding the enactment of the election code of conduct, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya did not directly say that the people’s representative should resign to contest the polls, but he signaled.
Article 36 of the code of conduct states that the incumbent people’s representatives and persons receiving the government’s remuneration should resign to contest the polls.
CEC Thapaliya said that they would abide by the court’s order after the Supreme Court issued an interim order not to implement the provision. However, he said that the commission would ask for the announcement of not receiving government facilities.
Now, the people’s representative registering candidacy in the local-level election should sign a document mentioning not availing government facilities including remuneration.
CEC Thapaliya says that the declaration made by the individual will be the main recognition. He argued that there was no need for the incumbent officials to protest against the provision. He added that the candidate will be responsible if the candidacy is invalidated on the basis of the self-declaration.
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