Amendment proposals registered

Kathmandu, October 5

Three lawmakers have registered amendment proposals at the Legislature-Parliament Secretariat seeking amendment to election - related bills.

Their proposed amendments include provision of threshold to political parties for getting recognition as national parties and some other corrections.

After preliminary discussions on the three bills Bill to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to Functions, Duties and Powers of Election Commission; Bill to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to Voters’ List; and Bill to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to Political Parties concluded in the House meeting yesterday, the lawmakers were allowed to register their amendment proposals.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Bharat Kumar Shah and CPN-UML lawmaker Bikash Lamsal, in their separate amendment proposals, sought amendment with a provision of threshold for political parties.

Shah’s proposal stated that a party should be allowed to represent in the Parliament only if it gets three per cent of the total votes cast or at least three seats under the-first-past-the-post system in the parliamentary election.

Lamsal sought a provision of five to ten per cent votes for a party as prerequisite to be allowed to represent in the Parliament.

“There is a tendency of opening parties rampantly, creating problems in maintaining political stability and creating various kinds of anomalies in parliamentary democracy,” Lamsal said.

He added, “So, there should be a system of threshold for parties to control such tendency.”