Nepali parties submit lists of Proportional Representation candidates

Kathmandu, Oct 16: Nepali political parties have submitted the closed lists of their candidates to the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) for the proportional representation (PR) category of the federal and provincial elections by incorporating some of the big names. The ECN received the lists of PR candidates on Sunday for the elections scheduled to be held on November 26 and December 7, The Kathmandu Post reported. The exact number of parties submitting the list was not clear until 8pm on Sunday but election officials said most of the 88 parties registered for the polls reached the ECN headquarters with their lists. Many parties waited until late in the evening to submit the names, having collected tokens from the election authority before the 5pm deadline. According to an ECN official, it was major parties in general that registered their lists late as they had taken more time to decide their candidates. Major parties including the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) incorporated some of the big names in their lists but the candidates have not been disclosed officially. According to Nepali Congress sources, the grand old party had KB Gurung, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Pushpa Bhusal among its federal PR candidates. Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, General Secretary Shashank Koirala and leaders Bimalendra Nidhi and Purna Bahadur Khadka would contest the elections under the first-past-the-post category, sources said. Chief Secretary at NC Central Office Krishna Prasad Paudel said the party submitted the names of 110 candidates for the Federal Parliament and 220 for Provincial Parliaments. For Federal Parliament, the list has 57 female and 53 male Proportional Representation candidates. The UML, which struggled until late on Sunday to decide the names, is learnt to have fielded senior leaders Amrit Kumar Bohara and Astha Laxmi Shakya among its PR candidates. The UML had announced earlier that its Standing Committee members will contest direct elections. Lawmakers elected under the PR category in the second Constituent Assembly, which was later transformed into the Legislature-Parliament, would not be repeated as proportional candidates. “There were many hopefuls for limited seats. So it took us long to zero in on PR candidates,” said UML Deputy General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal. The Maoist Centre has listed Onasari Gharti, speaker of Parliament that completed its four-year tenure on Saturday, and Jaypuri Gharti as its RP candidates. According to sources, the former rebels have picked Rekha Sharma from Dang, Suresh Ale Magar from Tanahun, Tilak Pariyar and Purna Kumar Subedi from Banke, Mani Thapa from Pyuthan, Kali Bahadur Malla from Jajarkot and Satya Pahadi from Dolpa. Maoist Centre Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal said the party submitted the names of 57 women and 53 male candidates for the PR election to Federal Parliament. The Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal has picked Rajendra Shrestha, Renu Yadav, Ratneshwor Lal Kayastha and Parshuram Basnet, among others, as the PR candidates for the federal elections, according to a party source. Two right-wing parties -- Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the RPP-Prajatantrik -- also submitted their lists. The RPP led by Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa has picked party Vice-chairman Buddhiman Tamang, Tanka Dhakal, Niranjan Thapa and Ram Kumar Subba among the PR candidates. Chairman Thapa is preparing to contest the direct election from Makawanpur district. The Pashupati Shumsher Rana-led RPP-Prajatantrik listed Vice-chairman Nawa Raj Subedi and Bala Ram Gharti Magar among the PR candidates. Though Rana is expected to be an FPTP candidate if the party forms an alliance with the Nepali Congress, he will also be on the PR list if the arrangement does not materialise, sources said. The Naya Shakti Party, Nepal led by former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, picked Parshuram Khapung, Durga Sob, Karishma Manandhar and Kamala Gurung as its federal PR election candidates. Although the parties submitted the names in haste, they will have until October 23 to amend the lists. Politicians on the lists can withdraw their candidacy until October 30. In the Federal Parliament, 110 lawmakers will be elected under the PR system. Parties are required to incorporate at least 50 percent women in the closed lists while ensuring proportional representation of various communities. According to the Act on the Elections of the House of Representatives, the parties have to accommodate 13.8 percent candidates from the Dalit community, 28.7 percent from indigenous nationalities, 31.2 percent from among the Khas/Aryas, 15.3 percent from the Madhesis, 6.6 percent from among the Tharus and 4.4 percent from the Muslim community. The parties securing less than three percent of total votes in the PR elections will not have their votes counted for representation in the federal parliament. Those getting less than 1.5 percent PR votes will not be represented in the Provincial Assemblies, The Kathmandu Post report added. UNI