EC hopes guvs appointed soon

Kathmandu, January 14

The Election Commission said calendar of the National Assembly election slated to be held on February 7 would be affected if the government did not appoint governors soon.

EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal said the government should appoint governors soon, as the poll panel had decided to publish NA voters’ list on January 21. “Prior to it, the government has to appoint governors of all provinces,” said Dhakal. He said the EC would submit results of provincial elections to governors of respective provinces.

According to Dhakal, the EC cannot submit provincial election result to governors unless they assume office. Elected representatives of provincial assemblies and chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels form the NA’s electoral college. The EC said elected representatives of the provincial elections need to take oath of office and secrecy to be eligible to cast votes in the NA election.

Dhakal said the poll panel was not concerned about provisional provincial headquarters and would submit results wherever governors stayed.

Minister of Defence Bhimsen Das Pradhan said the next Cabinet meeting could appoint governors in seven provinces. He said the incumbent government wanted minimum understanding with other parties before appointing governors and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had been trying his best to forge consensus among parties on the issue.

He said the government had yet to finalise names of governors.

Meanwhile, the EC stated that it had set up offices of chief returning officers in Morang, Dhanusha, Lalitpur, Kaski, Dang, Surkhet and Doti districts for the NA election. The EC stated that it had appointed district judges of the respective districts as chief returning officers.