Kathmandu, December 13

The Election Commission today stated that it would submit winner certificate of newly elected member of Parliament Resham Chaudhary to the Parliament Secretariat.

Chaudhary, who is the main accused in Tikapur carnage, won parliamentary first-past-the-post election from Kailali-1 on Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal’s ticket. Eight security personnel, including Seti Zonal Police Chief Laxman Neupane, and a two-year-old child were killed in Tikapur on August 24, 2015.

Chaudhary is on the wanted list of police and has been hiding since he was accused in the Tikapur killings. He fielded his nomination paper through his attorney and won the election by a margin of more than 20,000 votes.

“We’ll keep his certificate safe and submit it to the Parliament Secretariat,” Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said during an interaction here today.

Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Bharat Raj Gautam said the secretariat would comment on the matter only after it received the information in writing from the Election Commission. Former spokesperson for Parliament Secretariat Mukunda Sharma said the Parliament Secretariat should administer the oath of office and secrecy to Chaudhary if he went to the Parliament with the certificate of his victory. “It is the state’s responsibility to determine if he is guilty or innocent. The Parliament Secretariat has no role in this,” Sharma said.

He added that the EC should not adopt double standards while distributing victory certificates. His candidacy should have been scrutinised at the time of filing of nominations, he argued.