Submit your Article

Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane held a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the latter’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday. The Prime Minister’s Secretariat said that the duo discussed by-election, Home Ministry and other contemporary political issues. Lamichhane had reached Baluwatar to meet Prime Minister Dahal on Monday evening also. Earlier on January 29, journalist-turned-politician Lamichhane reacquired Nepali citizenship after the Supreme Court scrapped his status as a lawmaker saying he did not have valid Nepali citizenship. After reacquiring the Nepali citizenship, the party’s Central Committee meeting appointed Lamichhane as the party Chairman. Though the Rastriya Swatantra Party has been claiming the post of Home Ministry again, Prime Minister Dahal is not in a mood to give the post to the party.  

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal is leaving for Sri Lanka on Thursday to participate in the 75th Independence Day program of Sri Lanka. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday decided to approve her visit to Sri Lanka. This is her first foreign visit after assuming the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs. Minister Paudyal will participate as the guest at the special ceremony to be organized in Colombo on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day of Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited the Foreign Affairs Ministers and other special guests from South Asian nations to the special ceremony to be held in Colombo on February 3 and 4. Minister for Foreign Affairs Paudyal will hold high-level bilateral political meetings during her visit. She will hold high-level bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan President, Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and her counterparts from India and the Maldives. She will also hold various sideline meetings on Friday. Foreign Affairs Minister Paudyal will attend the main ceremony on Saturday, the Ministry stated. She will return home on Sunday.

The Election Commission has published the election schedules of the President and the Vice-President. The EC decides to hold the election of the President on March 9 followed by the Vice-President’s election on March 17. According to EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel, the elections will take place on the above mentioned dates at the New Baneshwor-based International Convention Centre from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Members in the Federal Parliament and the Province Assembly in seven provinces are voters for the elections.  However, province-wise polling centers could not be ensured due to existing legal provisions. As per the endorsed election programs, the voters’ name list for the Presidential election will be published between 10 and 11:00 am of February 22 and 10:00 am to 3:00 pm of February 25 has been fixed for registering candidacy nomination(s). Similarly, the program to register the candidacy nomination(s) for the election of the Vice-President has been set from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm on March 11. In accordance with the Article 63 and the 69 of the Constitution, the terms of the President and the Vice President shall be for five years. So, the term of incumbent President, who was elected to the post on March 11, 2018, is ending on March 12, 2023 and the term of the incumbent Vice President, who was elected to the post unopposed on March 18, 2018 is ending on March 17, 2023. As per the Act relating to the President and the Vice-President, the EC shall announce the election dates and inform it to the government. The election schedule shall be published in the Nepal Gazette.  The EC shall, through the government Chief Secretary, write to the Council of Ministers informing it about the election programs and the government shall facilitate the EC to conduct the elections.  

The Election Commission has fixed the date of presidential election. The election body has set the date of March 9 for the presidential election. Similarly, the election of Vice-President has been scheduled for March 17. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said that the Commission will make public the election programs on the basis of the same decision shortly. The tenure of President Bidya Devi Bhandari is expiring on March 12.