The Election Commission (EC) has denied reports that it is playing a partisan role with respect to the on-going controversy within the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).
Talking to Nepalnews on Monday, spokesperson at the Commission Tej Muni Bajracharya said the Commission wrote the letter to both the factions on Friday afternoon asking them to furnish proof regarding their ownership of the party’s election symbol. “Maybe our staff delivered the letter only on Saturday,” he said.
He denied allegations that the government or any other party had directed or tried to influence the Commission in connection with the on-going row within the RPP. The EC’s letter to the RPP led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa had been delivered the same day, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Spokesperson of the RPP led by Pashupati Shumsher Rana, Parshuram Khapung, alleged on Sunday that EC was being influenced by the government. He claimed that EC officials issued a letter to his party on Saturday, a public holiday.
Bajracharya said that only administrative section of the EC remains closed during the holidays while works for municipal polls are in full swing even during the holidays.
The dissident group of RPP led by Home Minister Thapa has made claims on the party’s election symbol. According to Sushil Shrestha, one of the leaders of the dissident group, they have made claims at the EC with signatures of 913 party delegates out of RPP’s total general convention members of 1281.
The RPP establishment led by Rana has dismissed the ‘special general convention’ called by the dissident group early this month as “unconstitutional” and signatures as “bogus.”
Accompanied by one dozen central committee members of the RPP, Rana submitted documents showing authenticity of his election to the party at the EC on Monday.
In response to a writ petition filed by the RPP led by Rana, the Appellate Court of Lalitpur has summoned the EC to present the facts before the court on Wednesday.