National
PR candidates of RJP-N to be categorised under one group
The Election Commission (EC) has decided to elect candidates of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) under the proportional representation system in Province 2 despite the Madhes-based party failing to ensure representation of different communities in line with the election related directive.Prithvi Man Shrestha
The Election Commission (EC) has decided to elect candidates of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) under the proportional representation system in Province 2 despite the Madhes-based party failing to ensure representation of different communities in line with the election related directive.
The party has won 10 proportional representation (PR) seats in Province 2. Going by the population composition in the province, the RJP-N has to set aside one seat for indigenous nationalities, one for Tharus, two for Dalits, five for Madhesis and one for the Muslim community as per the Directives on PR Elections to Provincial Assemblies.
However, the party leaders maintained that the list of PR candidates approved by the EC did not contain candidates representing indigenous nationalities, Tharus and Dalit women. The EC had approved the RJP-N’s list where all of the candidates have been categorised as Madhesis.
“As all the candidates on the list are from the single community, we told the RJP-N to submit a list of candidates to be elected by ensuring at least seven women out of 10 without breaching the order of the list,” said a source at the EC.
The RJP-N had submitted the list by incorporating a Muslim and Dalit man from within the Dalit community which the EC rejected, according to the RJP-N.
Based on EC’s instruction, the RJP-N has to submit the revised list incorporating seven women candidates—Babita Kumari, Nilam Devi Bhumiharin, Anju Kumari, Dimpal Kumari Jha, Nira Kumari Sah, Alka Kumari Jha and Rina Yadav to be elected in Province 2. Likewise, Ram Naresh Yadav, Janaki Sharan Shah and Netra Bikram Shah should be elected from the party.
“We tried to make our list as much inclusive as possible from the list by incorporating candidates even from the Dalit community. But the EC rejected our list for breaching the order,” said senior RJP-N leader Sarbendra Nath Shukla.
The RJP-N had proposed the name of Ram Prabesh Baitha from the Dalit community. But the EC rejected his candidacy stating that his name had been listed lower down the order.
The EC source said that while they have treated all the candidates to be representing the Madhesi community, order could not be breached for electing candidates from one community.
According to Clause 34 (3) of the Directives on PR Provincial Assembly Elections, a party cannot choose candidates even from the same community from the lower order ahead of those higher on the list for representation.
On January 5, the EC had reminded the RJP-N to revise its candidate list after the party submitted the rejected names on January 4. The RJP-N has yet to respond to the EC Rajendra Mahato, a member of the RJP-N presidium, said that the party was yet to take a decision on the issue due to delay in holding presidium meeting. “The next presidium meeting will take necessary decision on this issue,” he told the Post.
RJP-N in gender mix-up
The Election Commission (EC) has been found to have accepted a candidate list submitted by the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) that had mentioned a woman as man and a man as a woman.
While submitting the list of candidates for Province 7, the RJP-N had submitted the list mentioning female candidate Krishna Kumari Rana as male. The party had categorised a male candidate Ambadutta Tiwari as female, which was also accepted by the EC. An EC official, however, tied to gloss over the mishap saying that it was the responsibility of the party concerned to properly categorise candidates based on gender and communities.
In yet another mix-up, the poll has been found to have accepted a candidate list that had categorised all the candidates from provinces 1 and 5 as Madhesi. Although the Madhes-based party has incorporated the names from different communities in provinces 1 and 5, they all have been categorised as Madhesi.