News from Nepal

KATHMANDU, April 5 - Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokhrel and other Election Commission (EC) officials Thursday held meeting with the State Affairs Committee (SAC) members of the Interim Legislature-Parliament to discuss the Constituent Assembly Candidate Election Bill.

During the discussion, the EC said that the political parties needed to be clear about the proportional electoral system.

According to Hridayram Thani, a member of SAC, a nine-member committee comprising representatives of all political parties was formed to give suggestions regarding a proportional electoral system.

The EC is scheduled to hold another discussion regarding the same issues with the committee this Sunday.

Meanwhile, the EC will hold discussions with the Council of Ministers today regarding the issues pertaining to the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections that were yet to be finalised.

Sources have said that the EC had called on the ministers for a discussion as it has been facing problems in election preparations because the election dates are yet to be finalised.

According to an EC official, although all ministers had been invited for the discussion, Minister for Local Development Dev Gurung and State Minister for General Administration Ram Chandra Yadav would not be attending the programme as they were out of valley.

Likewise, Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan and Finance Minister Dr Ram Saran Mahat — who are currently in New Delhi for the SAARC Summit — will also be absent at the discussion.