KATHMANDU, MARCH 12

The Election Officer's Office has refused to cancel the candidacy of Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav for the vice-presidential election.

Election Officer Mahesh Sharma Paudel informed that Yadav's candidacy would continue.

Talking to the media, he said, 'Since it can be said that a male candidate from the Madhes community is more qualified to be a candidate for the vice-president rather than that of Khas-Arya community, the claims of vice-presidential candidates Ashtalakshmi Shakya and Mamta Jha cannot be upheld.'

'That's why, Yadav's nomination letter should not be rejected,' said Election Officer Paudel.

Four people, including Yadav, are competing for the post of the vice-president.

The Election Commission has given time till 4:00pm today to the vice-president candidates to withdraw their nominations.

Voting for the election of the vice-president will be held on March 17 from 10:00am to 3:00pm at the Federal Parliament building complex in New Baneshwor.

The Election Commission has already announced the names of 882 voters in the National Assembly, the House of Representatives and the provincial assemblies The incumbent Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun's second term is ending on March 17.

Two separate complaints were lodged against the Janata Samajwadi Party's vice-presidential candidate Yadav on behalf of CPNUML and Janamat Party candidates.

The complainant claimed that since the male candidate Ramchandra Paudel had been elected as the president, only women could run for the post of vice-president.

UML lawmaker Mahesh Bartaula, who had seconded the candidacy of party's official candidate Asta Laxmi Shakya, and Mamata Jha, a vice-presidential candidate from the Janamat Party, had lodged complaint with the Office of the Election Officer against Yadav.

They had claimed that the nomination of a male candidate could not be registered for the vice-president's post as a male had already been elected the president.

On Friday, the Election Commission had issued a statement saying only women candidates from communities other than Khas-Arya would be registered for the vice-presidential election.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya had said that the Election Commission would register the candidacy of only female candidates from Dalit, Indigenous nationalities, Muslim, Madhesi or Tharu communities.

A total of four candidates - three from the ruling alliance and one from the UML - have registered their nominations for the vice-presidential election.

Submitting his clarification today, Yadav claimed that there was a provision in the constitution that the president and vice-president should be from a different gender or community.

Yadav has demanded that the complaint against his candidature be scrapped as he belongs to a different community than Paudel, who was elected as the president.

Patan High Court Judge Mahesh Sharma Paudel has been appointed as the chief electoral officer for the vice-presidential election.

The constitution stipulates that the post of president and vice-president should be a person of different gender or community.

Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya had said that only women except the Khas-Arya community could run for the post of vice-president.

Article 70 of the constitution states that the election of the president and vice-president shall be done in such a way that different genders or communities are represented.