Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari(File Photo)

Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari(File Photo)
At a time when the international community has flatly rejected the municipal polls conducted by the royal government, Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari has claimed that the civic polls have been a success and are totally valid.

Addressing the face to face programme organized by the Reporters Club in Kathmandu on Friday, Rajbhandari said the international community had no right to declare elections in Nepal as “invalid.” He added that the completion of the election in 58 municipalities across the country had paved the way to strengthen the derailed democratic process and a step towards holding parliamentary elections next year.

“The Commission has now begun working for new elections to be held for vacant seats of municipalities and parliamentary elections next year,” he said. He, however, didn’t mention the time when elections would be held to fill the remaining seats in municipalities.

The Chief Election Commissioner also denounced the question of credibility raised by donor countries like the US, Japan, UK and India.

He said that nowhere in the conflict-ridden areas, no more people would take part in the polls that turned up in Nepal on Wednesday.

According to the EC, nearly 21 percent of a total of 1.4 million people exercised their right to vote during municipal polls on Wednesday.

Responding to a query on why the Commission had freezed the election symbol of a nationally recognized party (Rastriya Prajatantra Party), Rajbhandari said that the Commission was forced to take such unpopular decision due to lack of time.

He also refused to comment on the voting by Home Minister Kamal Thapa twice. The state-owned news agency, RSS, on Wednesday reported that Minister Thapa cast his vote both in Kathmandu and Hetauda.

Rajbhandari said the Commission would study on the reports that a same group of people supporting the RPP led by Home Minister Thapa had voted in various polling stations in Kathmandu.

Municipal poll was conducted for 618 seats in 36 municipalities on Wednesday. All candidates in the rest 22 municipalities were declared elected unopposed. Of the total 4,146 seats in 58 municipalities, nominations were filed for nearly half of the seats only.