The Election Commission is preparing to announce date for presidential election.
Preparations are on to hold the presidential election on March 9, according to Election Commission sources. "There are preparations to hold presidential election on March 9 and vice-presidential election in the third week of March. Discussions are being held at the Election Commission about that. Election schedule will probably come today determining the election date," an Election Commission source told Setopati.
The act related to election of president and vice-president requires the Election Commission to fix the election date and inform the government about that. Federal and provincial lawmakers are voters in the election of president and vice-president.
There is confusion about presidential election due to the contradictory provisions in the Constitution and law.
Article 63(1) of the Constitution states ‘The term of office of the President shall be five years from the date on which he or she is elected.’
Article 63(2) of the Constitution then states ‘The President whose term of office under clause (1) has expired shall continue to discharge the functions under this Constitution until another elected President assumes his or her office.’
The act about president’s election, meanwhile, states that date of election should be set in a way that election is held a month before the term of predecessor expires.
The term of President Bidya Devi Bhandari expires on March 13. If her successor were elected a month before that there would be two active presidents as the Article 63(1) specifies that the term of president starts from the date on which he or she is elected.
The term of successive presidents, in this way, would be shortened by one month each and the successive elections would have to be brought one month early after each term if the provision in the act were followed.
The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has abeen demanding that the election be held before March 13.
CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal also discussed about the presidential election during their meeting at Baluwatar on Sunday.
