KATHMANDU, May 1: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, the first day for political parties to register for the upcoming Constituent Assembly election, witnessed a tussle between the UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML over which party should get registered first.
Leaders and cadres of both parties, who had arrived at the EC central office at Kantipath, claimed that their respective party must be registered first because they got there first. [break]
Following verbal exchanges between cadres of the two parties, the constitutional body had to deploy more security personnel to prevent things from getting out of hand.
CPN-UML leader Agni Kharel said he arrived at the EC at 6:15 a.m. “The security personnel provided me the first chair in the queue for lodging the application,” stated Kharel adding, “I also have a picture in my mobile phone showing that I arrived first.” He said UCPN (Maoist) leader Phanindra Dahal came two minutes later.
However, UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai claimed that Dahal arrived at 5:30 a.m. but was not allowed to enter the premises as security personnel did not recognize him. “CPN-UML leader Kharel arrived 40 minutes after Dahal,” Bhattarai said.
Though the EC opens at 10 a.m., political party leaders and cadres had started to gather there from 6 a.m.
The UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML arrived at a consensus after the EC stated that it would take a decision about the order of election symbols of political parties on the ballot papers in accordance with set practice and existing laws and after holding discussions with the parties themselves.
CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (ML), Tarai Madhes Democratic Party-Nepal (TMDP-N), Sadbhawana Party, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic, Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch Tharuhat and Nepal Pariwar Dal were registered at the EC, Tuesday.
EC Spokesperson Madhu Prasad Regmi said that the EC has begun a preliminary but important process from today. “The EC hopes that the registration process will create an environment for the polls,”
After issuing a public notice on Sunday, the constitutional body has started to register the political parties for the purpose of the fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) polls. The registration process will continue till May 31.
As per the existing provisions, the EC can give political parties a maximum deadline of one month to register for election purposes. However, political parties can get registered as an institution at any time.
Altogether 119 political parties are registered at the EC at present. According to the EC, 54 political parties had contested the CA elections held in 2008 and 25 of them were elected to the then Constituent Assembly.
Political parties must submit their respective manifestos, statutes and flags, among other things, while a new political party should also submit the signatures of ten thousand voters for registration.
Also, political parties represented in the erstwhile CA should submit a letter from the parliament secretariat.
CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, senior leader KP Oli, Vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam and leader Kharel were present at the EC Tuesday. Likewise, UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Bhattarai and other leaders Post Bahadur Bogati, Phanindra Devkota, Devi Khadka and Kalpana Dhamala were at the EC to file for registration. Chief Secretary of the NC central office Chinkaji Shrestha and Secretary Pradip Parajuli had also arrived at the EC.
Related story
Two arrested for creating fake vehicle registrations
