The EC should be given the powers to set the dates for the elections so as to make the body both autonomous and powerful

The Constitutional Council (CC) has recommended Secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya for the post of chief election commissioner, a day after the incumbent CEC Ayodhi Prasad Yadav retired from service on expiry of his term. To be appointed to the post by the President, Thapaliya’s name must now be approved by the Parliamentary Hearing Committee. While the recommendation was expected to be someone trusted by the establishment, the haste with which it was done does raise certain questions. As with the other CC meetings in recent times, the opposition leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, was absent during the nomination of Thapaliya. Does this mean that the government failed to take the opposition into confidence while getting Thapaliya recommended for the post by the CC? A healthy discussion on a list of recommended names with the participation of all the stakeholders in the Constitutional Council would have been more desirable, especially while picking a person to head the Election Commission.

The man nominated to head the Election Commission is a seasoned bureaucrat, having served as secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Ministry of Information and Communications. He was to retire from civil service on attaining retirement age in one month. Thapaliya’s recommendation to the high post is seen as an attempt to bureaucratise one more commission. The five-member Election Commission already has three members who are former bureaucrats. So with the addition of Thapaliya, there will be at least four bureaucrats if not more. A look at the different commissions will make it clear that they are overly manned by retired bureaucrats. They range from the Public Service Commission, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to the Auditor General’s Office. And by law, only a former Chief Justice can head the National Human Rights Commission. What all this does is crowd out outside expertise in the functioning of the commissions. Retired civil servants will have served the nation for at least three decades, so they must not be seen as hankering for a post to while away their time post-retirement. The fault with the bureaucratisation of the commissions lies with the different Acts that have been enacted. So it is necessary to amend the laws to see that competent people from outside also find their way to the high posts.

The growing nexus between the bureaucracy and the government does not augur well for the smooth functioning of the state. This will give room for politicisation of the different commissions, including the Election Commission. To assure everyone that this is not intended in recommending Thapaliya for the post, the parliament should amend the laws so that the Election Commission can set the dates for the periodic elections and by-elections as demanded by the incumbent CEC Yadav time and again. This will make the body both autonomous and powerful, allowing it to hold the elections in a free and fair manner, independent of the prodding by the executive. This will enhance the credibility of the commission in the eyes of the parties as well as the international community.

Raise awareness

The number of tuberculosis (TB) patients is rising in the country every year. According to the National Tuberculosis Centre, there were 32,056 new cases of TB in fiscal 2015/16 while the number reached 32,474 in 2017/18. Marking World TB Day on Sunday, Minister for Health and Population Upendra Yadav said TB remains a major public health problem in Nepal. It is the seventh leading cause of death as 6,000 deaths related to it were recorded last year.

TB is a communicable disease. But it is curable if a TB patient takes freely-available medicines regularly. If a person is affected by TB bacteria, chances of transmitting the disease to other family members are very high. Therefore, raising public awareness is very important to cure and prevent it from spreading in the community. Regional level efforts are needed to eradicate the disease. Member states of the Southeast Asia Region had issued a call for coordinated action against TB in March 2017. Political, technical and strategic interventions are a must to eradicate it. Also considered to be the poor man’s disease, awareness campaigns must be focussed on the poor and marginalised communities.