Almost all broadsheet dailies published in Kathmandu on Tuesday have given priority to election-related issues on their front pages. Similarly, reports on the government’s decision to issue the medical education ordinance have also received attention.

Important

Women deprived of ‘fair share’ of tickets

Political parties and indpendents contesting the first round of federal and provincial elections filed their candidacies on Sunday. However, the ration of women to men candidates remains low. The Himalayan Times, in its lead story of the day, says the three major political parties only fielded nine women candidates for the first-past-the-post provincial and parliamentary seats up for grabs in the November 26 elections. Republica says the Nepali Congress and UML leaders cite reluctance of women candidates to contest under the FPTP and the compulsion of the parties to field ‘strong’ candidates, given the tight electoral race, as the reasons for this. Similarly, Kantipur says political parties do not want to field women candidates unless the law forces them to. The Election Commission says the proportion of women in Parliament will be made at least 33 per cent by using the PR system.

Regmi is new Chief Secretary

Most of the papers have also given space to reports on Lokdarshan Regmi’s appointment as Nepal’s Chief Secretary. Similarly, the government’s move to appoint Yubaraj Bhusal as the new head of the National Reconstruction Authority has also received attention.

NIC reluctant to disclose amount syphoned off

Most of the papers have given attention to reports on the NIC Asia SWIFT case. Republica says the NRB and the bank have stepped up efforts to prevent possible losses from the recent cyber attack against NIC Asia Bank. It says that both bodies are reluctant to provide details of the case. The Kathmandu Post says NIC Asia’s weakness helped criminals to hack into its system. It reports that the bank is learnt to have allowed its IT Department staff to use computers meant for SWIFT transactions to perform tasks like checking personal emails. The Himalayan Times quotes bank CEO Roshan Kumar Neupane as saying that NIC has corresponded with the banks concerned to put the payment orders on hold till the forensic probes conclude. Around Rs 50 million is believed to have been syphoned off by hackers.

Govt issues ordinance

The government has issued the Medical Education Ordinance to address the demands of Dr Govinda KC.

Ignored

NRA gets fourth CEO, 92 per cent survivors still homeless

Kantipur, referring to the recent government decision to appoint a new CEO to the National Reconstruction Authority, says that the Cabinet has appointed a new chief the NRA even as 92 per cent of the people who lost their homes in the quake are yet to re-build. The paper says that the new CEO Bhusal is a close relative of Nepali Congress senior leader Ramchandra Paudel.

Interesting

EV charging station to be set up in Kathmandu

Gorkhapatra says the Nepal Electricity Authority is preparing to set up EV charging station at his head office in Kathmandu. The paper says that such charging stations will be established in different parts of the city and taken outside of the valley as well.