Major Nepali and English newspapers published from Kathmandu on Sunday have given the priority to dissolution of Parliament on Saturday and its last ‘special’ meeting in which top leaders of all political parties addressed. Likewise, the swearing-in of four Cabinet ministers and four state ministers has also received significant attention.
Procedures for elections of federal House of Representatives and provincial assemblies are beginning today as parties are submitting the closed list of their proportional representation candidates to the Election Commission today. This issue has also received prominence in the Kathmandu Press today,
Important
Parliament dissolved to pave way for new elections
As the country is heading towards formation of a bicameral parliament including the House of Representatives and the National Assembly, the Parliament which was turned into a regular legislative body from then Constituent Assembly, has been dissolved yesterday. All major newspapers have made this event their lead story for the day with colourful photographs.
The state-owned Gorkhapatra in its banner headline says the House’s this term was historic, and explains in the story that this House made some historic achievement as it prepared grounds to implement the constitution promulgated from the Constituent Assembly.
Meanwhile, top leaders of all political parties addressed the final Parliament meeting yesterday before Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar announced dissolution of the House and hosted a dinner in the honour of outgoing lawmakers. Nagarik lead story says top leaders of two biggest parties, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, used the opportunity to satirise and criticise each other. “Major parties had shown a sense of unity among them while promulgating the constitution,” the report comments, “But, that was nowhere in the scene in the last meeting on Saturday.”
New ministers take oath as Election Commission approves Cabinet expansion
Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav on Friday had commented that the Prime Minister’s decision to expand his Cabinet by inducting eight leaders from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party was objectionable. However, the Commission on Saturday said the Cabinet expansion would not affect the elections scheduled for November 26 and December 7, Naya Patrika lead story says.
After receiving such an opinion from the Commission, President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who had earlier halted the swearing-in ceremony citing she would consult the Commission and legal experts, on Saturday evening administered the oath of office and secrecy to four Cabinet ministers yesterday, reports The Himalayan Times. Following that, PM Sher Bahadur Deuba also administered the oath of office and secrecy to four state ministers, the report adds.
Meanwhile, Republica says the Prime Minister’s decision to expand Cabinet has fuelled speculations that he would be removing ministers representing the CPN-Maoist Centre as the party has formed an election alliance with the main opposition CPN-UML. Another story published in the same paper quotes the PM as telling lawmakers yesterday that “The number of ministers may sometimes increase while it may also decrease as needed. You may hear about decreasing the number of ministers in a few days.”
The main opposition, UML, has warned against the forced expulsion of Maoist Centre ministers. Likewise, the Maoist Centre has also decided not to recall its ministers from the Cabinet despite PM Deuba’s plan to relieve them of responsibilities, according to a front page box story in Nepal Samacharpatra.’
Parties to submit list of PR candidates today
All political parties registered to take part in upcoming federal and provincial elections are submitting the list of their candidates under the proportional representation system for both federal and provincial legislative bodies today, according to Rajdhani.
The Election Commission has set the time from 10 am to 5 pm today to submit the list. Kantipur says the Commission will receive the lists for provincial assemblies as well at its central office in Kathmandu. However, it has established separate desks for each province.
Meanwhile, Naya Patrika comments that major parties are facing a tough time to finalise the list of their candidates.
Ignored
Government receives 27-point directive from Commission
Gorkhapatra‘s anchor story says the Election Commission on Saturday issued a 27-point directive to the government urging it to ensure effective implementation of the code of conduct prepared for upcoming provincial and federal parliamentary elections.
The directive includes 11 points on activities of the government, eight points on security provisions, five points on activities of officials of the government and constitutional bodies and three other points. The Commission’s spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal says a meeting of the constitutional body held on Saturday decided to issue the directive to the government via the Chief Secretary.
Meanwhile, the Commission has also asked the government to take action against violators of the code and inform the Commission about the action taken.
Interesting
Pashupatinath’s 350 ropani land ‘lost’
The Pashupati Area Development Trust has been searching around 350 ropani land registered with its name for last few years, but to no avail, reports Annapurna Post.
Around 12 years ago, the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament had found that the land has been encroached by various persons and organisations though that was intact in the record; hence had directed the Fund to find the status of that land and take it under its control.
The report has commented that the Fund is also making various excuses to expedite the search operation. Just yesterday, the agenda of forming a panel for the search was proposed at the Fund’s meeting, but it was dropped later citing technical reasons.
