KATHMANDU, JUNE 21
Former TV anchor Rabi Lamichhane has announced a new political party: the National Independent Party, ending his career as journalist, and begun his new journey as politician from today.
Lamichhane announced the National Independent Party amidst an event organised at the National City Hall Today.
He said he had opened the new party to clean the dirty politics of the country. The party's election symbol is bell. He also said "We will ring the bell in the minds of the corrupt". He also announced he would register a political party at the Election Commission today.
Lamichhane said that 21 members had been included in the central committee. He has not made the names public yet. Lamichhane also urged people to join his political party digitally from today itself. He said digital democracy was one of the main features of the National Independent Party.
"Members of the party can vote for any major decision digitally from any part of the country. The seven features of the National Independent Party are: preliminary election, majority of youths, direct-elected prime minister and chief ministers, right to recall and right to reject, digital democracy, prohibition of nepotism and sister organisations.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML Politburo member Surya Thapa has said that the National Independent Party should not be registered by the Election Commission. He wrote on his social media handle: "Legally independent candidacy is the sovereign right of all the people. But it is against the law to form an independent party by seizing the rights reserved by law to allow people to contest and win elections freely. If anyone tries to form a party in such a way as to create confusion, the Election Commission should not register it.
When asked whether Lamichhane's party will be registered with the EC, Spokesperson of the EC Shaligram Poudel said, " An application has been registered and investigation will be conducted to see whether or not the party meets all the registration and constitutional processes for registration."
A version of this article appears in the print on June 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
