ONLY NINE HOURS REMAIN TO ASSEMBLE CONSENSUS PM

NINE HOURS REMAIN TO FORM CONSENSUS GOVT.

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 21 Aug.: Only nine hours remain for political parties in parliament to meet a week-long deadline set by President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav asking them to assemble a consensus government by five in the afternoon Sunday.
Parties haven’t decided yet whether to support Second Maoist Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai or senior three-time Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Even as parties concede only a consensus government can complete the delayed peace process and draft a constitution.
Both the processes haven’t been met in three years and three months.
The fresh deadline ends 31 August.
The parties will now parties to get together a majority government if a consensus government isn’t assembled.
Caretaker Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal will continue to manage the day-to-day affairs amid uncertainly.
Khanal’s predecessor Madhav Kumar Nepal continued in office for seven months after resigning.
Foreign governments complained then they were encountering conducting important government without a stable government.
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KRISHNA JANMA ASTHAMI BEING OBSERVED

Kathmandu, 21 Aug.: Krishna Janma Asthami or the birthday of Lord Krishna is being observed Sunday by visiting Krishna temples being observed and pulling his chariot.
Lord Krishna is considered as the 8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
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NEW VOTER ROLLS COMPLETED IN 67 DISTRICTS, 9.44 MILLION REGISTERED

Kathmandu, 21 Aug : About 9.44 million voters in 67 districts have been registered in the new electoral roll under a campaign conducted by the Election Commission (EC). The photographs and biometrics of all voters registered in the new electoral roll have been electronically stored in computers along with their personal details, Bushnu Gautam reports in Republica.
The electronically registered electoral roll with photographs, finger prints and biometrics is expected to be more authentic and credible for future elections.

The EC was able to register the 9.44 million eligible Nepalis (who are 18 years old or above) over a period of eight months.

According to the EC, the commission has accomplished its much touted project in 67 districts and the process of registering voters in the new electoral roll is currently underway in the eight remaining districts. The first phase of the process is expected to be completed in mid-October.

According to the data, out of the total 3,915 village development committees (VDCs) in the country, the EC has already completed the registration process in 3,726 VDCs. Enumerators are currently busy registering voters in the remaining 189 VDCs.

Unlike in the past, personal details with photos and fingerprints were collected from every individual voter. This is the first time that enumerators met every voter, invited them to the registration centers, took their photos via laptop and recorded their fingerprints with the use of electoral devices.
In the past registration process, only the names and addresses were collected while developing the voters´ list.

"While we are not entirely satisfied, we are encouraged with the new electoral roll collected to date," said Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety, adding, "The EC had expected to register about 11 million people this time."

He hoped that their expectation would be met once they complete the first phase of registration in all 75 districts. "It has been found that many voters went abroad after the CA election," Uprety said, adding, "However, we have to take the recently collected data positively."

Of the 58 municipalities, the EC has accomplished its registration drive in 53. Out of the total of about 9.44 million on whom data was collected, more than 7.91 million were registered in 3,726 VDCs and over 1.36 million registered in 53 municipalities.

Likewise, the EC registered 153,481 voters outside their native districts. That means there are 153,481 temporarily migrant voters.

During the CA election, the total number of voters was 17.6 million. "We are encouraged by the recently collected data; however we feel that the new data is not adequate for future elections," Uprety admitted.

The new voter registration process with photos and biometrics was made possible only after the Supreme Court issued a verdict paving the way for the EC to conduct the process on the basis of citizenship certificates alone. Initially, Madhes-based parties had protested the EC´s program, saying the citizenship problem still remained in the Madhes region.

The EC has deployed nearly 91,000 enumerators, dispatched 3,000 laptops, an equal number of web cameras, finger print scanners, keyboards and 800 generators to facilitate the registration process.Directives, forms and guidelines have also been dispatched.

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UNIDO CHINA CHIEF LIKELY TO FACE ACTION

Kathmandu, 21 Aug.: The headquarters of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has indicated possible action against chief representative of the UNIDO office in China following the disclosure that UNIDO had not entered into any valid contractual agreement with the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF) to undertake development activities in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Purna Basnet writes in Republica from Hong Kong.

“Disciplinary action may be taken against the chief representative of the UNIDO office in China,” said a source at the UNIDO headquarters on Saturday.
The preparation for action indicates that Hu Yuandong, chief representative of the UNIDO office in China, had reached an agreement with the APECF on providing “institutional assistance” for Lumbini project without first consulting the UNIDO´s Vienna-based headquarters.

Yuandong had reached an agreement with Xiao Wunn, executive vice-chairman of the APECF, on providing technical cooperation for Lumbini Special Development Zone in Nepal on July 15.

But the UNIDO headquarters had clarified that it had not entered any deal as such. “UNIDO has not entered into any valid contractual agreement with the APECF, and therefore is not involved in any activities related to the Lumbini Special Development Zone in Nepal,” said Mikhail Evstafver, UNIDO Advocacy and Communication Coordinator, said in a statement on Friday.

Following the new development, an official from the APECF indicated that the US$ 3 billion project has come to an end. “What we had tried to do is to promote the Lumbini project by coordinating the investors. But the investors have been disappointed as the project was entrapped into a political hostility among various forces in Nepal,” a Beijing-based UNIDO official told Republica.

Meanwhile, the APECF has removed the name of former crown prince Paras Shah from the list of its co-chairmen on its website in English version.

Earlier, Shah was introduced as a co-chairman of the APECF in the website. “He is no longer a vice-chairman of the Foundation. The reason behind that is a political one,” the official said. But the official didn´t clarify whether it was Shah´s voluntary exit.
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