Kathmandu, April 4:

Election Commission disqualifies 297 candidates, 12 decide to bow out.

A total of 5,701 candidates remain in the fray for the proportional representation system that will elect 335 representatives to the Constituent Assembly.

The Election Commission (EC) has disqualified 297 candidates — 184 for failing to furnish copies of their citizenship certificates, 66 for not reaching the required age of 25 years and 27 candidates for filing their nominations for the direct polls as well. The EC informed that 12 PR candidates from various parties have withdrawn candidacies. “The Commission can disqualify more candidates till the voting day if we find that they are not eligible,” spokesman for the EC Laxman Bhattarai told a press meet.

He added that the CA Election Court can disqualify candidates even after the April 10 vote if they are found to have breached election laws.

Most of the disqualified candidates belong to parties such as the RPP, RPP-Nepal and the Rastriya Janshakti Party. As of now, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has lost highest number of its PR candidates — altogether 75 — and now has only 260 candidates in the fray while the CPN Maoist has the highest number of candidates (333), Bhattarai added.

The EC has sought clarification from two Maoist candidates and a candidate each from the NC and the CPN-Unified for acting against the election code of conduct.

NC candidate from Tahanu 1 Govinda Raj Joshi has been asked to furnish clarification for vandalising the CPN- Maoist’s office at Dumre in Bandipur VDC on April 1.

Maoist candidate from Ramechhap 1 Tara Narayan Shrestha ‘Bigul’ has been questioned for directing party cadres to beat UML candidate Dev Shankar Poudel at Priti VDC on March 12. Another Maoist candidate in Rasuwa Prem Bahadur Tamang has been asked to furnish clarification as to why he directed party cadres to thrash his NC competitor Bala Chandra Poudel.

The CPN-Unified candidate from Kavre 1 Kanchha Ram Tamang has been asked to furnish an explanation regarding the attack on his People’s Front Nepal competitor Kaman Singh Lama on March 31.