Kathmandu, June 25

Former vice-president Parmanand Jha, who had applied for permission to monitor the second phase of local level elections, was not granted permission by the Election Commission.

Former vice-president Jha had applied for permission for poll monitoring through National Election Observation Committee. A source at the Election Commission told The Himalayan Times that the polls panel denied him permission due to protocol issue.

“Jha is a former vice-president of the country and we deemed it not right for a person of his stature to apply for permission through an observer organisation. Had he himself sought permission for observing the local level election, we could have allowed him,” added the source.

Jha had expressed interest to monitor second phase of local level elections in the districts of Tarai region.

Chairman of National Election Observation Committee Surya Prasad Shrestha said at a press conference today that he did not understand why the polls panel did not grant permission to Jha to observe the polls.

“Even former US president Jimmy Carter visits various countries to monitor the polls, but our former vice-president was not given permission to monitor the polls,” said Shrestha, who is also the former chief election commissioner.