“President Bhandari ratified the ordinance at 1:10 pm today on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers in accordance with Article 114 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal,” said the president’s personal secretary Dr. Bhesh Raj Adhikari.

The Political Parties Act 2017 Amendment Ordinance enables political parties to split if 20% of the Central Committee members or the Parliamentary Party members agreed so.

Prior to this ordinance, the political party could only split if at least 40% of members opted for it.

Even the former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli attempted to pass similar ordinance in April 2020. However, at that time, Nepali Congress and other political parties of the ruling alliance had apposed it.

Ironically, as soon as the ordinance was issued, the Mahanta Thakur faction of the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) has initiated preparations for the registration of a new party.

After losing the legal battle to claim the JSP party, the Thakur’s faction was waiting for the ordinance to register a new party.

According to leader Laxman Lal Karna, Thakur faction is set to reach Election Commission today for party registration. Janata Samajwadi Party (Democratic) is the new party name and bicycle is the election symbol.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Nepal Political News!

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The Prime Minister indicated his suggestion at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya and others of EC. Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad and Prasad Poudel, election commissioners Ram Prasad Bhandari and Janak Devi Tuladhar were also present at this meeting.

He urged the commission to implement the elections swiftly, considering the mid-term elections, due to being held on November 12 and 19.

“On the one hand, COVID pandemic is raging, and on the other, (the) election should be carried out within six months. There is no situation for deferring the election due to the pandemic. Amid the pandemic too, various countries including India, the US, the UK and Brazil have successfully completed elections,” PM Oli said.

The PM reassured the Chief Election Commissioner that adequate security arrangements would be made available. The budget and human resources will also be provided to the EC.

Although the PM advised the EC to conduct the polls in two phases, the Chief Election Commissioner advised the PM to review that decision as the EC is keen on holding the elections in a single phase.

The voters list will be updated after a political consensus emerges about the related laws, which is expected once the viral infection rate drops in the landlocked nation.

Stay tuned to NepaliSansar for Geopolitical Updates.

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The post Election Commission Urges Nepali PM to Hold Elections in Single Phase! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Election Commission has announced March 13, 2018 as the date for conducting Presidential elections after a round of discussions with the newly-appointed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and various political parties, informed EC Spokesman Navaraj Dhakal.

“There will be a separate election to choose new Vice-President a week after the presidential election,” added Dhakal.

The new President and Vice-President of the country will be elected through a voting by Electoral College that includes members of the Federal Parliament and Provincial Assemblies, a month after the formation of Federal Parliament.

These elections for the posts of President and Vice-President will see the replacement of Bidya Devi Bhandari and Nanda Bahadur Pun whose tenure began in October 2015 and will be ending very soon.

These polls are also crucial for the implementation of the Nepal’s new Constitution promulgated in 2015.

Left Okay for Constitutional Amendment

Meanwhile, as per the recent update, the Left Alliance Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) has expressed its willingness for Constitutional amendments. 

CPN-UML has reportedly agreed to the amendment draft made on the basis of recommendations by Upendra Yadav led Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN).

“The government has marched closer to make the revision on the clause that creates a hurdle for naturalized citizens to a take over the key post of the country,” say the sources, adding that a finalized decision in this regard is yet to be made.

“Sooner or later, the Federal Socialist Party will join the government over heading the Rashtriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP-N) and this instance has increased the distance between the two parties who once took to the streets with the same demands and issues,” informed a statement.

In another major move, the Left party leaders Oli and Pushpa Kumar Dahal have also proposed collaboration with FSFN to hold two-third majority in the House of Representatives.

Out of the 275 seats, the Left Alliance parties (CPN-UML and CPN-MC) won 121 and 53 seats respectively in the lower house in the recently-held elections, and a coalition with 16 FSFN members will get the Left Alliance two-third hold in the House of Representatives.

Oli Extends Cabinet Further

In another major update, newly-elected Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli has extended his cabinet strength inducting four new ministers, taking the total number to seven.

The newly-appointed ministers took their oath of office at a recently-held ceremony at Presidential Palace Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu.

The list of new ministers includes Ram Bahadur Thapa (CPN-MC) as the Minister for Home Affairs, Yubaraj Khatiwada as the Minister for Foreign Finance, Matrika Yadav as the Minister for Industry and Ishwar Pokharel (CPN-UML) as the Minister for Defence.

The new finance minister is a notable veteran economist of Nepal and also served in key positions as the Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank and as the Vice-chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC).

Oli formed his own cabinet on February 15, 2018, the day of his election as the new Prime Minister with Lal Babu Pandit as the Minister for Environment and Tham Maya Thapa as the Minister for Women and Social Welfare.

The post Nepal Politics 2018: Presidential Election, Constitutional Amendment Make Headlines appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

However, the communist parties’ cabinet seat-sharing has been a matter of discussion since the time results were announced.

As per the latest update, the two parties are most likely to go on for a 60:40 ratio in seat sharing (the same ratio implemented for fielding candidates) if their discussions do not materialize before the formation of the new Nepali Government.

UML is reportedly keen on offering 30 percent cabinet seats to its ally MC based on the number of seats the party won in the recently-concluded polls.

According to Senior MC party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the announcement of Proportional Representation (PR) seats will give a needed boost to the process of new government formation.

“Otherwise, there is no alternative but to reach a deal with the Nepali Congress (on the ordinance forwarded for National Assembly election),” Narayan added.

It will take at least two weeks to form the new government even after allotment of PR seats, says UML leader Rinal.

The discussions over announcement of Khadga Prasad Oli as the next Nepali PM was also halted due to row over the formation of new National Assembly.

“The meeting of the party unification coordination committee will begin as soon as Dahal returns from Chitwan, may be on Tuesday evening or Wednesday,” informed UML Secretary Pradeep Gyawali.

This update gains significance in view of UML’s recent announcement over formation of new Nepali Government most likely by the end of December 2017.

Provincial Council Results

Meanwhile, Nepal Election Commission (EC) has made another major announcement regarding Nepal’s landmark parliamentary and provincial polls.

EC, on December 22, 2017, announced the results of country’s Provincial Council (PC) elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) system.

The seats allocation under PC saw CPN-UML leading with 75 seats followed by Nepali ruling Congress with 72 seats.

While CPN-MC won 35 seats, Federal Democratic Forum (FDF) bagged 13 seats followed by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-Nepal) that got 12 seats.

Parliamentary PR Results in Two Days

The results of the parliamentary polls under PR system are likely to be announced very soon.

According to the EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal, the PR unit functioning under EC will finish the Parliamentary PR seat allocation in the next two days. “We will unveil the result of Parliamentary PR elections as soon as possible,” informed Dhakal.

The post Nepal Elections 2017: Brainstorming Continues Over New Government, Seat Sharing appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The new Nepali Government, led by Prime Minister Deuba, has successfully completed the first 100 days of its functioning, yesterday.

In this regard, the government says it has fulfilled key promises made in the first cabinet meeting.

Holding the local polls on time was one of the key priorities of Deuba-led government as promised by Deuba in his first Cabinet meeting on June 7, 2017. With the elections in progress, the government claims that as its major achievement in the first 100 days.

Another major element of the Deuba-led Nepali Government is the formation of the largest-ever cabinet of 54 ministers, through which, Deuba set a record in the political history of Nepal.

Speaking at a meeting held to announce the government’s achievements, Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the government made a commendable progress in the post-earthquake reconstruction activity.

The Minister for Information and Communication Mohan Bahadur Basnet lauded the Congress-Maoist coalition for facilitating a conducive environment during the time of elections by bringing the agitating Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal on board the polls. He said that would help in successful implementation of the constitution.

Delimitation of electoral constituencies for the federal and provincial elections, visits of the President, Vice President and Prime Minister to India were among other achievements listed.

Silence Period from Today Midnight

Meanwhile, the election silence period for the third phase of local-level elections will begin from today midnight.

The Election Commission made an announcement in this regard yesterday, wherein, it asked the political parties and related stakeholders to stop election campaigning activity through any medium including social networking sites.

It also asked the state media not to publish any news that promotes any contesting candidate or political party. EC had set a time limit from 8 AM – 7 PM today for the political parties to pack up their electioneering activity.

The third phase of local polls will happen in 136 local units of 8 districts in Province 2 on September 18, 2017.

The post 100 Days of Deuba Government: Local Polls on Time, a Major Achievement appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Nepal Government has finally decided to conduct both provincial and federal parliamentary elections in a single phase on November 26, 2017.

An official decision in this regard was taken in a Cabinet meeting held on Monday.

Prior to this, the Election Commission (EC) of Nepal had urged the government to conduct the elections in two different phases citing time constraints, lack of relevant laws and Constituency Delimitation Commission (CDC) report, human resource and logistical issues as major gaps.

In this regard, the election body had proposed two different dates for conducting elections in two phases – November 20 in Hill and Mountain areas and on December 7 in Tarai region.

In a meeting with Commission officials in the first week of August 2017, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had urged EC to conduct both the polls on a single go for ensuring timely polls for meeting the constitutional deadline and to minimize related expenditure.

The post Provincial and Parliamentary Polls Scheduled in November 2017 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Rastriya Janata Party Nepal has decided to register the party at the Election Commission (EC) today.

Keshav Jha, a general secretary of the unified party, said that they are going to the EC to officially register the unified party because they had not registered the unified party at the EC after the merger of six parties to form RJPN.

The party registration is a part of regular process and the party still demands amendment of the constitution prior to the local level elections in Province 2 slated for September 18, 2017, he added.

Manish Suman, another general secretary of the party, also said that the party is going to the EC to officially inform the constitutional body about the merger of the six parties.

Suman said that party’s registration at the EC is a regular process, but they will participate in the elections only if their demands are addressed through constitution amendment.

The RJPN boycotted the first and the second phase of local elections demanding constitution amendment first, but its cadres in various districts stood in the election as independent candidates.

The post Rastriya Janata Party Nepal to Get Registered with EC appeared first on Nepali Sansar.