Kathmandu, November 4

The Election Commission today annulled the candidacy of former home minister and Nepali Congress leader Govinda Raj Joshi.

Joshi had filed candidacy from Tanahun-1 as independent candidate for the Parliament. He was convicted by the Special Court in a corruption case but his case is subjudiced in the Supreme Court.

The EC had received complaints against nine parliamentary and provincial FPTP candidates, including Joshi and Navaraj Silwal (parliamentary candidate, Lalitpur-1)  but scrapped the candidacies of only two — Joshi and Nasrul Miya, who had filed candidacy for Morang-2 provincial FPTP seat.

The EC validated  the candidacies of seven candidates: Silwal, Bhojendra Thakur Lohar (parliamentary FPTP candidate, Rautahat-4); Dilip Kumar Sah, provincial assembly candidate, Siraha-4 (1); Tikaram Pangeni, provincial candidate, Kaski-1 (1); Rishiram Paudel parliamentary candidate, Nawalparasi West-2; Raj Kumar Ray, provincial candidate, Sarlahi-2 (1) and  Hemkarna Paudel, provincial candidate Sunsari-2 (2).

The complaint against Thakur said he was already a PR candidate. Dilip Kumar Sah was accused of polygamy and Pangeni of holding a public post. The complaint against Raj Kumar Sah said he was already a PR candidate. The complaint against Nasrul Miya was he was not a Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal candidate.

Complainants in Kaski and West Nawalparasi withdrew their complaints.

Devendra Raj Kandel had filed complaint against NC candidate Rishiram Poudel (West Nawalparasi-2), saying he was a beneficiary of state facilities.

Deepak Koirala stated the same thing in his complaint against the left alliance candidate from Kaski provincial Constituency-1 Tikaram Pangeni.

There were complaints against FPTP candidates — Raj Kumar Rai from Sarlahi-2 (1) provincial constituency and Bhojendra Thakur Lohar from Rautahat parliamentary constituency -4. The EC is yet to decide their cases.

As the polygamy charge against Dilip Kumar Shah is subjudice, the EC decided in Shah’s favour.

The EC also decided not to scrap the candidacy of Hem Karna Paudel of Sunsari-2 as a case against him is subjudice.

CPN-UML’s PR candidate Ganga Chaudhary’s name was also included in the PR list of Naya Shakti Party-Nepal. An election officer said the EC will take a call on the matter after scrutinising Chaudhary’s claim.