KATHMANDU, JANUARY 23
The Election Commission has yet to decide when to hold presidential elections as provisions of the relevant law contradict the constitution.
The constitution states that the president and the vice-president will have five-year tenure, whereas the relevant law says that the presidential elections should be held one month before the term of the president and vice president ends.
Article 63 of the constitutional stipulates that the term of the Office of the President shall be five years from the date on which s/ he is elected.
Article 63 (2) stipulates that the president, whose term of office under clause (1) has expired, shall continue to discharge functions under this constitution until another elected president assumes his orher office. Section 4 of the act related to the President and Vice-president Electoral Act, 2017, states that the Election Commission shall assign date for the election of the president and the veep at least one month before their tenure ends.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari assumed the highoffice on 14 March 2018 and Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun took the oath of office and secrecy on 19 March 2018.
Election Commissioner Ishwari Paudyal said if the EC followed the President and Vice-president Electoral Act, then it would have to hold the presidential election before February 11. Inthat case, the constitutional provision will not be honoured because the constitution stipulates that the president and the vice-president shall have a tenure of five years. Paudyal said the EC would consult the government to discuss amendments to the act related to Election ofPresident and Vice-president in order to hold elections around March 13 and 18 when the tenure of the president and the vice-president would end, respectively.
Joint General Secretary of the Nepali Congress and HoR member Badri Prasad Pandey told mediapersons after the meeting that ifthere were inconsistencies between the relevant act and the constitution, the act should be amended and the EC and the government should work in a coordinated manner to address the issue. He said the new president and vice-president should be elected before March 13 so that they could assume office on the day the tenure of the incumbent president and veep would end.
As per the constitution, the president shall be elected by an electoral college consisting of members of the federal Parliament and members of the provincial assemblies. The voting weightage of the members of the federal Parliament and of the provincial assemblies shall vary as provided for in the federal law.
Article 70 of the constitution stipulates that the president and the vice-president should be from different genders or communities.
The EC to consult the govt as provisions of the relevant law contradict constitution
A version of this article appears in the print on January 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
