Parliament has forwarded three election-related bills to its State Affairs Committee for clause-wise deliberation, including amendments registered to the bills: Political Parties-related Act, Election Commission Act, and Act on Voter’s List.

Although Speaker Onasari Gharti’s emphasis on prioritising election-related bills is commendable, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has already diluted several key provisions of these bills. The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) had drafted five election-related bills over a month ago and had forwarded them to the MoHA—the ECN’s current counterpart ministry—to table in Parliament.

But MoHA did more than that. It took out the key provisions of the draft that would have given the ECN independent charge of announcing and organising polls. It also removed several other provisions that would have made party financing transparent, held parties to account if they mismanaged funds and set a threshold of votes for parties to qualify for seats.

Not just the ECN, even lawmakers have strongly objected to the changes made by the MoHA. The

dilution of the bills was done at the behest of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi, according to informed officials.

As a reflection of their dissatisfaction, lawmakers from all major parties have now registered a total of 67 amendments to the bills seeking to restore many of the original provisions of the bills.

Key among these provisions are the power to the ECN to announce election dates, set a vote threshold for parties, provide state funding for parties based on vote percentage, and penalise parties for failing to submit an annual audit report. The ECN had also proposed to change its counterpart government agency from the MoHA to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

It is high time that the ECN was given independent charge of all elections-related activities, including announcing poll dates. The lack of authority to announce election dates allows ruling parties to potentially influence elections and this goes against the very spirit of free and fair elections. One reason why elections for local levels have not been held for over 15 years is because one major party or the other always finds it inconvenient to face the electorate at a given time.

If the ECN had the authority, the parties would have been forced to take part in local level elections once the ECN deemed it fit to hold the elections. Election commissions in India and many other democracies, for example, are autonomous bodies which announce poll dates without having to take consent from the parties or the government. In many other countries, election dates are prescribed in the constitution itself. Election Day in the United States of America, for example, is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

We also support the ECN’s call asking the parties for greater transparency in party- and election-financing. In a world where democracy is increasingly being undermined by big money and opaque funding sources, transparent voluntary donations and state funding based on the percentage of votes the political parties secure alongside a mandatory annual audit will provide strong incentives for parties to come clean and create a level-playing field while contesting elections.