Samim Ansari may well be get to head the Muslim Commission due to the internal dispute of ruling CPN despite him forging his citizenship certificate and his affiliation to CPN.
The parliamentary hearing committee on Tuesday has endorsed chiefs of four different constitutional bodies but the meeting was indefinitely postponed without taking any decision on Ansari.
The regulation about operation of the federal parliaments and committees mentions that there will be no obstruction in the recommended persons getting appointment if no decision is taken by the parliamentary hearing committee within 45 days.
The 45-day deadline for Ansari will expire on March 9 and the committee seems unlikely to take any decision on Anasri in the remaining four days even if a meeting were convened in the intervening period.
The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has four members in the 15-strong committee dominated by CPN with nine. One member is from Federal Socialist Forum Nepal while chairman Laxman Lal Karna is from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP).
NC has been boycotting the hearing of five chairmen stating the names were recommended in the absence of main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba while the FSFN member also boycotted the meeting on Tuesday.
The committee requires just a simple majority for endorsement and two-third majority for rejection.
The ruling CPN is divided on whether to approve Samim Ansari, who is close to Chairman KP Sharma Oli, or not.
Lawmakers in the committee close to the Madhav Nepal faction are preparing to reject Ansari on the grounds of forged citizenship certificate. But those close to Oli are working to get Ansari approved.
With the CPN divided, and NC and FSFN boycotting the meeting, it will be almost impossible for the committee to reject Ansari and difficult to even endorse him.
CPN lawmakers Surendra Pandey and Yogesh Bhattarai have been advising Ansari to withdraw his name but he seems unlikely to do so. He has been telling the lawmakers that he is in a strong position legally and in other ways as well.
The parliamentary committee is investigating the authenticity of Ansari's citizenship and educational certificates.
The photocopy of citizenship that Ansari had presented to the Constitutional Council mentioned that he was born on October 10, 1973. He also mentioned that the citizenship was issued on January 6, 199 from Kathmandu ward no. 9.
But his date of birth is October 10, 1980 as per the record kept in the District Administration Office, Kathmandu and the record mentions that the citizenship was issued from Kathmandu ward no. 19. The last digit of his year of birth 2037 (BS), 7 has been overwritten with 0 to make it 2030 in another record in the District Administration Office.
The criteria set for appointment at the constitutional bodies forbid politically affiliated persons. But the Constitutional Council recommended Ansari who was in the closed list submitted by the then CPN-UML for proportional representation (PR) system in the last general election.
Ansari, who had joined the then UML from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal before the local election, is the central member of CPN after unification.
CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel has already written to the Election Commission to remove Ansari's name from the closed list for PR system after some CPN leaders prepared to reject Ansari by mentioning even his political affiliation.
The letter sent by CPN to the Election Commission mentions that the secretariat meeting on February 22 had taken the decision to withdraw the name of Ansari. But secretariat member and senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal told Setopati that the secretariat meeting that day did not discuss about Ansari and expressed ignorance about the Ansari controversy.
But general secretary Paudel claimed that the decision was taken in the secretariat meeting. "The decision was taken after discussion," he added.
Ansari was the first ranked among the Muslims in the closed list of UML due to his proximity to Oli, and was denied the post only due to the mandatory provision requiring one-third female representation in the parliament.
The Election Commission has already written to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee on February 23 informing Ansari was in the closed list of UML and is the central member of CPN. Paudel wrote to the Election Commission to remove Ansari's name the very next day.
