Elections for premier will be inconclusive

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 21 July: Hours before voting starts in 599-member parliament to elect a prime minister to succeed Madhav Kumar Nepal of UML, the ruling party issued a whip Wednesday to lawmakers vote for its candidate Chairman Jhalanath Khanal.
The party also decided not to vote either for candidates of NC or Maoists if Khanal doesn’t muster 401 votes.
None of the three candidates of the UCPN (Maoist), NC or UML will garner the required 300 seat majority to get a prime minister elected by majority without one candidate withdrawing in favour of another.
Maoist Chairman Prachanda, NC Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Paudel and UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal have filed candidacies for elections from 11 in the morning to five in the afternoon.
UML has put a rider on Khanal’s candidacy; he will withdraw from the contest without the support of 401 lawmakers.
He’ll require the support of other parties to collect the votes.
Nepali Congress put up a brave face saying the 22-party alliance continues even as UML has put up a candidate.
“The present coalition hasn’t broken; UML will be a partner in the coalition,” NC General Secretary Bimlendra Nidhi said.
‘We’ve certainly taken the decision of Khanal to present his candidacy unnaturally. But the decision taken by him for internal management, we fell, will help Congress finally,” Spokesman Arjun Narsingh KC said.
Four Madesh parties, with 180 seats, said they will support a candidate who takes up regional issues of the terai.
UML said it has put the rider as two majority governments failed to conclude the peace process and promulgate a constitution in two years within the 28 May 2010 deadline.
The peace process couldn’t be completed in the specified six month deadline as parties took a foreign agenda and adopted broad agenda for sweeping changes after toppling monarchy.
A government is ‘national unity and consensus’ is the mantra although elections are being held for the government chief.
A second round of elections will be held to elect Nepal’s successor if nobody collects a clear majority in the first round vote.
Maoists can form a majority government with the support of four terai parties in the first round; but Madesh parties aren’t likely to immediately support Maoists, NC or UML.
Twenty-five parties are represented in parliament; smaller parties will vote independently.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

Megha Bank gets operating license

Kathmandu, 21 July; Megha Bank Tuesday got an operating license from Nepal Rashtra Bank and will begin operations this week; the central bank board gave a go-ahead Sunday.
The bank with a paid-up capital of Rs 1.63 billion has 1,219 promoters and is the country’s 28th commercial bank.
Anil Shah moved to the bank as CEO from Nabil Bank.
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Revenue collection crosses target in 2009/10

Kathmandu, 21July: Government collected Rs 180 billion in revenue in the fiscal year 2009/10 that ended mid-July, finance ministry said.
The target was to collect Rs 176.50 billion.
Altogether Rs 143.47 billion in revenue was collected in 2008/09.
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NEPSE gains 2.56 points

Kathmandu, 21 July: Nepse gained 2.56 points at the end of trading Tuesday on the third day of weekly trading.
The market closed at 468.86 points.
Commercial banks gained 3.3 points,
Altogether 50,993 shares were traded in 785 transactions for Rs 31.24 million.
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Another EU grant to civil society

Kathmandu, 21 July: European Union delegation Tuesday donated 2.4 million euros equivalent to Rs 126 million to civil society organizations for vocational training and good governance.
Six to eight contracts will be granted, an announcement said.
The money will support initiatives of civil society organizations directed to the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.
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• HOME NATION BUSINESS
• LETTERS Foreign ministry signing passport peak with French company
KATHMANDU, July 21: -
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is likely to dispatch a letter on Wednesday to Oberthur Technologies, which has won the multi-million dollar contract to print and supply Machine Readable Passport (MRP) to Nepal, to sign an agreement, The Kathmandu Post reports.

“An acceptance letter has been readied for the agreement. Oberthur has been given a 15-day period to sign the deal,” a MoFA official said. Both sides will exchange a letter in this respect while signing the deal. A letter will be dispatched to Oberthur’s headquarters inviting it to sign the agreement.

Oberthur has offered to supply MRP at US$ 3.59 per copy, including the personalisation system, technical support and others. As per the bidding documents, the French firm has to provide 400,000 MRP copies as its first consignment within 70 days of its agreement with MoFA.

Following the recent controversy, the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had demanded all the documents regarding the MRP contract from the Foreign Ministry.
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Youth kills newly wed wife
Kathmandu, 21 July: Police on Monday detained a man for strangling his newly wed bride to death at a hotel in Hallan Chowk in Pokhara, The Himalayan Times reports from Kathmandu,
According to investigating officials, Saroj Phuyal, 19, from Chandol, had killed his wife at the behest of his ex-beloved Kopila Phuyal.
Sarok had tied the nuptial knot with Maju Khanal Phuyal, 18, from Dhumbarai on 24 June, but 24 days later she was found dead in room 208 of Motherland Hotel in Pokhara on Sunday.
The mystery surrounding her death was unraveled when Saroj reached Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharajgunj, on Monday to file a complaint that an unidentified gang of five has abducted his wife Angu when they were on a honeymoon in Pokhara.
“Police smelt a rat and detained him, on interrogation, he confessed he had strangled his wife at the behest of Kopila,” said DSP Deepak Thapa.
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