A meeting of political parties—excluding the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—called by CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has concluded that the Political Party Self-evaluation Procedure brought by the Election Commission is against the Constitution and decided to oppose it.
The Election Commission had introduced the procedure and urged political parties and the public to offer suggestions on it by the August 7 (Thursday).
Leaders from the Maoist Center, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janamat Party, and other parties took part in the meeting called by Maoist Center Chairman Dahal on Wednesday to discuss the procedure.
After the meeting, Senior Vice-chairman of Unified Socialist, Rajendra Pandey, told journalists that they reached the conclusion that the procedure prepared by the Election Commission violates the Constitution.
"The procedure drafted by the Election Commission contradicts the Constitution and the Political Parties Act. The Election Commission does not have the authority to make laws, yet this is framed like an act. This procedure is aimed at controlling us, implying that only two parties should survive in the country and all others can be eliminated. We jointly decided to oppose this in writing," Pandey said.
RSP lawmaker Ganesh Parajuli, who attended the meeting, said that the procedure brought by the Election Commission is not in accordance with the law.
"This meeting was called to oppose the Election Commission’s procedure because it is not in accordance with the law," he said. "The intent of this procedure is to restrict smaller parties. We believe it is designed to allow the Election Commission to control internal party matters. We, the 12 parties, are united."
Parajuli said that while good governance within parties is necessary, the Election Commission cannot have this authority. "We will issue a joint statement opposing this move," he added.
