It is surprising to see that the EC is not ready to use EVM despite expert panel's report that it is safe
Even though the major political parties at the centre are at odds over the passage of the US-funded MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) compact through the federal parliament, their cadres at the grassroots-level are focused on the upcoming civic polls scheduled for May 13. The Election Commission (EC) has already made necessary preparations for holding the election to all the 753 local levels in a single phase as per the decision of the council of ministers on February 7. The five-year term of the local level is expiring on May 14. As per the constitutional provision, the local level, one of the three tiers of government, cannot be left in a vacuum even for a single day. The main opposition – CPN-UML – has already stated that it would contest the election alone without making any electoral alliance with other parties.
However, the local level cadres and leaders of the coalition partners of the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government, especially the CPN-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC) and CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US), are exploring the possibility of forming an alliance with the Nepali Congress (NC) in the upcoming civic polls. Whether or not the coalition partners will make an electoral alliance among them will become clear only after the voting on the controversial MCC. If the CPN-MC and CPN-US choose to vote against the MCC deal, the NC will sever ties with both of them during the local polls.
Meanwhile, the EC does not appear to be ready to conduct the civic polls using the electronic voting machine (EVM) although an expert panel formed by the EC itself had advised its use for the local polls. After the EC commissioners reportedly got divided over the use of the EVM, the EC has given priority to the use of the traditional ballot paper, for which it has already published a tender notice to procure 700 tonnes of paper. Just 80 days left for the civic poll, the expert panel, led by Anil Kumar Datta, joint secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, had submitted its report to the EC one week ago, suggesting that the EC use the EVM for the poll. The EC officials seem to be reluctant to use the EVM, citing opposition from the political parties and EVM's 'unreliability'.
The panel had said the use of the EVM would help cut cost, and there would no legal problem to its use as the Local Level Election Act has also paved the way for its use.
As a part of its poll preparations, the EC has sought Rs 8.95 billion from the Ministry of Finance. The fund is needed to print the ballot papers, transport them to the polling centres and provide logistics support, salaries and allowances to the employees conducting the polls. This time around, the EC has proposed providing only 100 per cent election allowance of the salary as against up to 140 per cent provided to the government employees during the last elections. The EC has decided to deploy the local level employees at the polling stations and centres. The EC has also decided not to buy any new vehicles for the polls. An estimated 200,000 government employees will be mobilised during the civic polls, which will elect more than 36,000 representatives. The use of the EVM would have made the EC's work safer and quicker while counting the votes.
`NMC's absurd decision
It's indeed absurd that Nepal Medical Council (NMC) should allow just one student, Tejendra Pandey, who is pursuing his medical education in China, to complete his internship in Nepal and not others. Can the NMC take such an arbitrary decision? Although the government had taken a decision in December to allow students who were returned from China in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to do their internship in Nepal, the NMC has been denying them the facility. There are hundreds of students who have completed their medical education from Chinese universities, with some having studied a semester or two online in Nepal also, but are unable to undergo a year of internship, either in China or Nepal.
But even if the students are able to do their internship here, they can only do so if they join private teaching colleges, which are said to be demanding hefty sums from the students. Indeed the students, not knowing what to do, are caught between the devil and the blue sea. In the meantime, since Nepal has many medical colleges already, it might be wise for the students to study here than be faced with unforeseen situations, especially when it concerns their career and future.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 23 2022, of The Himalayan Times.