Kathmandu, February 26

The Election Commission today removed Samim Miya Ansari, who has been recommended to head the Muslim Commission, from the Nepal Communist Party (NCP)’s proportional representation list for the House of Representatives submitted by the party during the parliamentary election last year.

The decision was taken after the ruling NCP filed an application at the poll panel yesterday seeking removal of Ansari’s name from the PR list, said EC Spokesperson Shankar Prasad Kharel.

Ansari faces accusation of changing his age in his duplicate citizenship certificate to show that he is 45 years old, one of the requirements to chair the Muslim Commission.

Media reports had also stated that Ansari was ineligible to chair the Muslim Commission as his name was in the NCP’s PR list.

A top source at the EC said, “We have removed Ansari’s name from the PR list as sought by his party, but I think Ansari’s eligibility for the post can be challenged in the court.”

Senior Advocate Surendra Kumar Mahto said Ansari should not have been nominated for the post in the first place. “Although Section 3(C) of the Muslim Commission Act stipulates that the chairperson of the Muslim Commission should not be a member of any political party at

the time of his/her appointment, the spirit of the act is that s/he should be a politically independent person and s/he should not be a member of any political party even at the time of recommendation,” Mahto added.

He said the Muslim Commission Act’s provision required holistic interpretation and not just literal interpretation. Mahto said the spirit of Section 4 (1) of the Constitutional Council (Functions, Duties, Powers and Procedures) Act was also that the candidate should be a non-political person for any constitutional post, such as the chairperson of Muslim Commission.

He said Ansari should have quit his political association long ago to be nominated for the Muslim Commission.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee couldn’t take place today due to lack of quorum. Of the 15 PHC members, four members from the Nepali Congress have been boycotting PHC meetings since the Constitutional Council appointed the chairs of commissions in the absence of opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba on January 20.