Solidarity Centre for Nepal Democracy

CPN (UML) chair and former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said that the upcoming elections will vehemently oppose and respond to the regional politics and forces involved in disharmonizing the social cohesion. Speaking in a program organized to extend thanks to the volunteers, artists and media for their presence and support shown during the party's Mechi-Mahakali Campaign (March 4-18), leader Oli said so. He added that the people will answer those forces by giving a majority seats to his party from upcoming elections. Leader Oli further shared that the party will launch more effective programme in Province No 2 in near future. He added that the Madhesi morcha showed apolitical behaviors against UML during the campaign being intolerable due to fear of ending their illusion against the constitution and UML if UML launched effective and harmonious programs in Tarai. In another context, chair Oli shared that the attorney general suggested the election commission to touch

State Affairs Committee of the Parliament has decided to impose a threshold of three percent and at least one seat under the First-Past-the-Post electoral system to secure seats under the proportional representation system. The committee meeting on Wednesday took the decision to impose the threshold. Earlier, a sub committee formed by the committee decided to impose 3 percent threshold in the upcoming parliamentary election to become national political party. According to the subcommittee member Rameshwor Phuyal, the 27th meeting of the panel decided to provision three percent threshold after the rigorous discussion.  "Any political party must secure at least three percent seat under the Proportional Representation (PR) category and at least one seat under First-Past-the-Post category to become the national political party," said Phuyal.  He hailed the decision of the 11-member panel as historic. The sub-committee was failing to endorse the Bill Related to Political

The sub-committee under the parliamentary State Affairs Committee has reached to a consensus on bill regarding the political parties on Wednesday. As per the provision, for any political party to be recognized as a national party they must secure at least one seat under first-past-the-post (FPTP) and three percent proportional vote. Committee member Ram Krishna Yadav informed that a meeting of the sub-committee held at Singha Durbar this morning forged a consensus despite objections from fringe parties. Nepal Workers Pheasants Party leader Prem Suwal, CPN-ML leader Aindrasindar Nembang among other leaders from fringe parties objected to the provision of securing three percent threshold on PR and one FPTP seat. Ekantipur 22/03/2017

As Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to pay an official visit to China on March 23, the PM is scheduled to discuss the matter with former Prime Ministers and China affairs experts beforehand. A meeting of former PMs and China affairs experts has been called at PM Dahal's official residence in Baluwatar at 9 am on Thursday in this regard, said PM Dahal's press advisor Gobinda Acharya. PM Dahal's prior discussions with former PMs and China affairs experts aims to take suggestions on bilateral and multilateral meetings. PM Dahal is scheduled to hold with Chinese officials during the visit, said PM's Secretariat. A Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place today evening will finalise issues to be taken up from Nepal side in the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, Acharya informed. PM Dahal is leaving Thursday for China to take part in the annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia to be held in Boao, Hainan province from March 23-26. On the occasion, PM

- Kamal Dev Bhattarai Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal Baburam Bhattarai has said that there is a lack of ‘proper understanding’ in India about Nepal. Speaking to Post before concluding his visit to India on Tuesday, leader Bhattarai said mainly young generation of India has some flawed understanding about Nepal and bilateral relations between the two countries. The former prime minister maintained that there is a need of dialogue, debate and discussions to rebuild the bilateral relations in the change political context Nepal and India. Bhattarai made such remark after extensive discussions with Indian intellectual and policy makers during his seven-day stay in New Delhi.  Bhattarai underlined the need for building a bilateral relation between two countries at the top political levels. Bhattarai was of the view that there has been a huge change in the political scenario of both countries and bilateral relation should be rebuilt accordingly. He was

Biswas Baral The curious case of Gagan Thapa I don’t know Gagan Thapa well. What I know better is that I want him to continue as my health minister. How many ministers have there been in the post-1990 democratic Nepal who have done something worthwhile for the common folks and not directed all their focus on enriching themselves and their mother parties? Gokarna Bista. Lalbabu Pandit. Janardan Sharma. Narayan Kaji Shrestha. There aren’t many. This is why when we have someone like Gagan Thapa in the cabinet we should ensure that he stays put for at least a few years.  If you want to know what Thapa has done, you only need to visit Kanti Children’s Hospital at Maharajgunj, which was until recently among our most mismanaged and dirtiest public hospitals—and this was a hospital for children. The doctors, nurses and other staff there were rude, offensive even, to the parents who brought their children there for treatment. Nor did the hospital staffs seem to have a clue about how

Kantipath, a renowned street in the capital named after a queen, turned into battleground for hours on Monday after violent clashes broke out between police personnel and cadres of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), who were trying to stage sit-in in front of the Election Commission. Several protesters including RPP senior leader Pashupathi Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana and television personality Komal Oli, who is also an RPP leader, were injured during the scuffle.The Metropolitan Police Division said the clash ensued after an “unruly mob” tried to enter the EC building and resorted to vandalism. RPP leaders however accused the security personnel of suppressing a peaceful protest. The RPP, which is one of the key ruling coalition partners, was protesting against the removal of the terms “Hindu State” and “constitutional monarchy” from its statute by the EC. On March 17, the EC had removed the terms “Hindu State” and “constitutional monarchy” from the statute of RPP stating

  Paving the way for the formation of a commission to recommend new electoral constituencies under the new constitution, parliament on Monday endorsed the Constituency Delineation Bill through fast track. In less than 10 months, the government must finalize new electoral constituencies in line with Article 286 of the constitution for holding provincial and parliamentary elections. Article 84 of the new constitution has proposed reducing the existing 240 electoral constituencies to 165 for parliamentary elections. Likewise, as provisioned in Article 176, the number of electoral constituencies for a given provincial assembly will be double the number of lawmakers that province sends to the federal parliament.  The commission will finalize altogether 495 electoral constituencies, including 165 for the House of Representatives and 330 for the provincial assemblies. Amending the original bill tabled by the government, parliament included a provision stating that a constituency for

CPN (Maoist Center) lawmakers raised serious objections over transfer of budgets only to the home districts of the influential leaders in the party and the government. Speaking at the meeting of parliamentary party on Tuesday, some lawmakers asked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal why the hefty amount of budget transfer is done on the districts like Chitwan, Rukum and Rolpa ignoring other districts. According to a source, the lawmakers also asked PM Dahal, also the chairman of the Maoist Center, to come up with party's plans to participate in local level elections. Addressing the parliamentary party meeting, PM Dahal urged lawmakers to exercise on creating environment for endorsing the constitution amendment bill registered at the Parliament and to focus on local level election. According lawmaker Giriraj Mani Pokharel, PM also briefed lawmakers about his China visit, which will start on Thursday. MyRepublica 21/03/2017 

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is unlikely to sign any agreements with China during his week long visit starting from Thursday, said highly placed sources at his office.  Dahal is set to fly off to China via Guangzhou at 11 pm on Thursday to participate in the 2017 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia which is scheduled from March 23 to 26 in Boao, South China's Hainan Province. Though there was high expectation of signing One Belt One Road, railway track construction among others the source said that no agreements signing is yet set during Prime Minister Dahal's upcoming China visit. "There will be some verbal commitments but written agreement signing is unlikely due to time constraints and the visit is only formal one not the official or state visit," said the source.  Will meet Xi for 15 minutes Dahal will attend the conference till March 25 and then will fly to Beijing on the same day. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has been f

Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa said the local bodies election would be conducted on scheduled date and urged political parties to begin their campaigns targeting the election. Speaking before the Parliamentary Development Committee, Thapa said both the government and Election Commission were working on a war footing to conduct the election on May 14. He said the government will take the agitating Madhesi parties in confidence for the election. Committee President Rabindra Adhikari said the government put maximum efforts to implement the local levels and Election Commission should assist for it. Ekantipur 21/03/2017

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said on Monday the local level elections announced for May 14 were certain to take place. Addressing a programme organised to mark the seventh death anniversary of former NC chief Girija Prasad Koirala in Bhaktapur, Deuba said there would be a constitutional crisis if the three layers of elections were not held by January next year. He asked party cadres to gear up for the polls. “Conspiracies are being hatched to create a rift among the people of Mountains, Hills and the Tarai,” Deuba warned, underlining the need for holding the local polls on schedule to foil such moves. Ekantipur 21/03/2017

The Election Commission has, issuing a press statement today, urged all to abide by the election code of conduct in view of the local level election. The local poll is scheduled for May 14.   The commission has issued 19-point directions, urging to follow the election code in effect since March 1.  It has directed the Ministries, offices, political parties, concerned bodies and institutions to follow the election code.  The press statement further stressing on fair and fear-free environment for the election has warned of action as per prevailing laws if election codes were violated.  

Four more parties in the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) have officially notified Speaker Onsari Gharti about their decision to withdraw support for the government. Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected the country's 39th prime minister last August with support from the Nepali Congress, the largest party in parliament, and the agitating Madhes-based parties. Representatives of the Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP), Madhesi People's Rights Forum-Republican, Sadhbhavana Party and Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party officially handed over the letters to this effect to the speaker's secretary Dilliram Rijal at the secretariat of the speaker on Thursday. Two UDMF allies -- Tarai Madhes Sadhbhavana Party and Sanghiya Sadhbhavana Party -- have not yet informed the speaker about their decision though all top Madhesi leaders maintain that they have withdrawn their support for the government. The Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN), another party in the front, had inf

Main opposition CPN-UML has said that the party will soon launch a special program for Province 2 though the party's Mechi-Mahakali National Campaign has been postponed in the province because of the sensitive situation. Issuing a press release on Friday to conclude the campaign, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli urged the agitating Madhes based parties and their alliance, the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), to show democratic nature in politics. Oli alleged the UDMF of practicing social fascism and involving on violent activity and urged to respect opposition in democratic way. Expressing sorrow on the loss of human life in Saptari incident, Oli argued the UDMF to be responsible and to respect people's mandate. He has also alleged Madhes-base parties that their recent activities do not demark crime and politics. He has also expressed serious concern claiming that the UDMF has been a cover for separatist elements and those elements, who believe in violence. The

PM Dahal meets Yadav, assures all-out support for local polls Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday held a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav and assured to provide necessary support for holding the local level election slated for May 14.  During the meeting at PM’s official residence in Baluwatar, Kathmandu this morning, Commissioner Yadav briefed PM Dahal about the progress in its preparation for the polls. Dahal expressed his delight at the ongoing preparation of the EC for holding the elections on time.