Amid widespread criticism of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for inducting eight ministers from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party on Friday, a day before the scheduled dissolution of Parliament, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had expedited consultations with experts, including Election Commission (EC) officials.

PM Deuba’s move to induct more ministers into the government on Friday came hours after he signed a commitment paper at the EC saying the government and his party would abide by the election code of conduct, which has been in place since August 30 for the federal and provincial polls to be held on November 26 and December 7.

On Saturday EC officials are learnt to have told President Bhandari that PM Deuba’s move of inducting ministers into his government on Friday “does violate the poll code but does not affect the elections”.

“EC officials told the President that although the Cabinet expansion is against the code of conduct, the government’s move will not affect the planned elections,” said Sushil Pyakurel, political adviser to President Bhandari. 

Some experts, however, say they find the EC statement bizarre, for the main objective of enforcing poll code is ensuring the elections are not affected. Any act that violates poll code automatically means it could affect the polls, they said. When Deuba expanded his Cabinet the last time on September 11, the EC was quick to respond, saying the move violated the poll code. It then  had called for not repeating similar acts in future.

But the EC this time is tight-lipped. Officials at the EC said they “can’t do anything if the government does not abide by the poll code”. 

Election Commissioner Sudhir Shah said the issue is about morality. “The EC can do nothing against the government.” Election experts, however, said the way the EC has dealt with the situation shows how weak and toothless the poll body has become. 

“If the EC considers that government actions like Cabinet expansion can affect environment for holding polls in a free and fair manner, it should not hesitate to issue a warning that it won’t conduct the elections,” said former chief election commissioner Nil Kantha Upretri. 

President administers oath to RPP ministers

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Saturday administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and three other RPP leaders—Jayanta Chand, Dilnath Giri and Bikram Bahadur Thapa. 

The oath of the newly inducted ministers took place amid confusion and widespread criticism, as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had appointed them and other three RPP leaders as state ministers on Friday, just a day before the scheduled dissolution of Parliament. PM Deuba’s move of expanding his Cabinet also came hours after he signed a commitment paper at the Election Commission (EC), saying the government and his party would abide by the poll code of conduct. 

It is learnt that the Office of the President started preparing for administering for the oath to new ministers only after EC officials told President Bidya Devi Bhandari that the Cabinet expansion would not affect polls. “There is no link between the Cabinet expansion and upcoming elections,” said Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav after meeting President Bhandari. “Election code of conduct has been put in place to hold polls in a free and fair manner. This is not the first time the Cabinet has been expanded when the poll code is already in place. Our concern is holding polls on time,” he said. 

Newly inducted DPM Thapa, who is eyeing the Home Ministry currently held by the CPN (Maoist Centre), said that his party joined the Deuba government to save it from falling into minority in the wake of a left alliance formed by the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre). 

“We decided to bring the RPP on board after learning that UML and Maoist leaders were trying to bring it and the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal into their fold to topple the government,” said Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi. (PR)