Major English and Nepali newspapers published from Kathmandu on Tuesday have prioritised the passage of two election-related bills from Parliament and the seizure of 88 kg smuggled gold from Chhetrapati of Kathmandu. Likewise, the sealing of four shops of branded luxury items in Durbarmarg of Kathmamdu has also received significant attention.
Important
Parties must secure three per cent votes to elect one lawmaker in PR system
Parliament on Monday endorsed two bills related to elections of the Provincial Assembly and the federal House of Representatives clearing the way for government and Election Commission to hold the polls as scheduled for November 26 and December 7.
Among major provisions of the House of Representatives bill is that a party must secure at least three per cent of total valid votes to secure a single seat under the Proportional Representation electoral system, according to the lead story in The Himalayan Times. Such threshold has been kept at 1.5 per cent of total valid votes for elections of the Provincial Assembly.
Likewise, a party must secure one seat under the first-past-the-post category to get recognised as a ‘national party’, reports The Kathmandu Post.
However, the House rejected the government proposal to introduce the system of right to reject (‘no vote’ or the right to choose ‘none of the above’ candidate).
Meanwhile, Nagarik has commented that the provisions of six clusters for PR system is against the constitution as the constitution says there should be 15 clusters for proportional representation.
88 kg gold seized from Kathmandu belonged to Chinese smuggler
Nepal Police has suspected that 88 kg gold seized from Chhetrapati of Kathmandu on Monday morning belonged to a Chinese smuggler.
Kantipur says the man arrested in possession of the precious yellow metal, Manoj Adhikari (24) from Makawanpur district of Nepal, was employed as the driver, but the smuggler himself was in Nepal till few hours before police made the biggest gold haul ever.
The story says the Chinese man himself had driven the vehicle from Kerung of Tibet to Rasuwa district of Nepal via Rasuwagadhi border and he had returned to Tibet by handing over the responsibility to Adhikari.
Rajdhani says the Chinese smuggler was transporting the gold to India via Nepal. The report says the arrestee told police that the suspected mastermind also owns a hotel in Chhetrapati of Kathmandu. He was doing business in Nepal since 2006, according to Annapurna Post lead story.
Police, however, are yet to make any formal announcement about the owner of the gold.
Ignored
Ministers want to postpone implementation of election code
A Naya Patrika report says many ministers have complained that the Election Commission implemented the code of conduct for provincial and federal elections scheduled for November and December quite earlier than necessary. Therefore, they have urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to request the Commission to postpone the implementation.
The Commission last week had announced that the code came into effect since August 30. However, the ministers said the code would come into effect just 35 to 45 days before the polls earlier; but the election dates are more than two and half months away.
The report says the ministers demanded that the code come into effect after Dashain only. They argued that the code made it difficult to deploy staff at newly formed local governments and affected other day-to-day functions as well.
In response, the PM has said he will convey the request to Election Commissioner.
Two secretaries transferred in five days from Election Commission
Whereas Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has been complaining that the transfer of Election Commission officials affects preparations for upcoming significant elections, the government has transferred the secretary of constitutional body two times in past five days, reports The Himalayan Times.
However, both the transfers were made in the consent of Commission, EC spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal informs the paper, adding “The government could transfer any of its employees with the EC’s consent.”
The report says the government on Thursday last week transferred Commission’s Secretary Maheshwor Neupane to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and brought the Ministry’s Shankar Prasad Adhikari to the Commission. However, it changed the decision on Monday and transferred Adhikari to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Begendra Sharma, who was Secretary at the Constituency Delineation Commission, has been sent to the EC as Secretary on Monday.
Meanwhile, former Chief Election Commissioner Nilkantha Upreti has commented that such frequent transfers after the implementation of election code of conduct give a wrong message.
Interesting
Central banks to distribute new notes for Dashain from Sept 13
Like in past years, the central bank of Nepal is distributing new banknotes for members of the public on the occasion of their greatest festival Dashain, says a report in Abhiyan daily.
The Nepal Rastra Bank says those willing to get new notes can visit branches of Nepal Bank Limited, Rastriya Banijya Bank and Agricultural Development Bank from September 13 for the service. Earlier, the NRB would distribute the notes directly from its Thapathali office.
A person is allowed to exchange as much as Rs 20,000 in this scheme.
Meanwhile, the central bank has also informed that constitutional bodies, Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police can also exchange their old banknotes with the new ones from tomorrow, September 6 to September 15.
