POLLS

UCPN MAOIST AND UML MEETS AHEAD OF NOV. POLLS
Kathmandu, 19 July; Five hundred delegates are participating in a plenum of UCPN Maoist Lalitpur Friday to sort out problems created by
party rivalry  ahead of the November elections.
Chairman Prachanda has suggested four alternatives as he offered post of senior leader to Baburam Bhattarai who resigned as vice-chairman.
UML centra; committee is also meeting Friday to prepare an agenda to attempt to emerge  
as the gargest party after the November elections.
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STAKEHOLDERSRS PREPARING FOR VOTE
Kathmandu, 19 July: All the major stakeholders in the upcoming Constituent Assembly polls scheduled for November 19 are in various stages of preparation to hold the election, despite the threat of the dissident parties, including the CPN-Maoist, to
boycott it, The Himalayan Times reports..

Major political forces in the High-Level Political Committee had already begun preparations for the polls before the government even announced the election date on June 13. Unified CPN-Maoist has formed a manifesto-drafting panel led by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai, while the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have completed their first phase of nation-wide campaign re-strengthening their organisational bases.

MJF-D Vice-chairman Rameshwar Ray Yadav said his party’s political committee had started drafting election manifesto. He said they would hold a meeting of party representatives in Biratnagar on August 12-13 to seek suggestions on the manifesto. “We want to forge alliance with Madhesi parties and we may take a decision about it tomorrow,” he added.

Vice-chairman of TMDP Brikhesh Chandra Lal said his party started poll preparations six months ago and has begun the process to draft its manifesto. Lal said party’s probable candidates were camping in their respective constituencies and the party had already held 80 per cent of regional meetings. “We are also assessing the strength of other Madhesi parties so that we can enter into an alliance with them,” he added. The TMDP had initiated unification process among the Madhes-based parties but failed to accomplish it due to differences over who should lead the unified party.

NC spokesperson Dilendra Prasad Badu said his party had already concluded its one month campaign in all 240 constituencies to motivate its rank and file to focus on the election process. “After the Mahasamiti meeting in Triveni, Nawalparasi, in the second week of April, we formed a nine-member team led by Vice-president Ramchandra Paudel to dwell on the forms of governance and federalism, as well as other issues related to election manifesto,” Badu said.

He said the Paudel-panel would present its report at the upcoming central committee meeting, which would prepare the party’s manifesto based on the report.

CPN-UML has also completed its one-and-a-half-month nation-wide campaign collecting suggestions from its cadres and supporters about the burning issues of federalism and forms of governance, as well as the party’s stand on socio-economic issues.

The campaign, according to UML central committee member Yogesh Bhattarai, was launched on May 17, along with a document blaming the UCPN-M for the CA’s failure to draft the constitution, arguing that as the largest party in the CA, the UCPN-M failed to play a proactive role to draft the constitution.

“We have already compiled a report of the campaign and it will be discussed at the party’s CC beginning tomorrow,” Bhattarai said, adding that the party would form panels to prepare an election manifesto and to select candidates. The manifesto will focus on economic agenda, Bhattarai said, adding that the CC meet would concentrate purely on polls.

A week after the formation of the interim election government, the UCPN-M also formed a nine-member committee under the party’s Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai to draft the party’s manifesto and another nine-member panel led by General Secretary Post Bahadur Bogati to select candidates on March 20.

UCPN-M CC meet also formed a 67-member Second CA Election Central Campaign Mobilisation Committee led by party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on June 14, a day after the government announced the election date.

Chairman Dahal has proposed work division of all the leaders focusing on the upcoming election and it will be finalised by the party’s plenum beginning tomorrow.

The party has also decided to revive the now-defunct paramilitary-structure of YCL, which had to be disbanded as per the comprehensive peace accord.

The government, on the other hand, formed a five-member Constituency Delimitation Commission five days after announcing poll date. CDC will submit its report in a week.

After holding several rounds of consultations with the political parties, the Election Commission finalised the Code of Conduct that will come into force from July 22. The EC also completed its voters’ list on July 15, registering 12.2 million voters.

Parties, govt, EC, international community’s contribution

UCPN-Maoist

• March 20: Manifesto-drafting and candidate selection panels formed

• March: Decides to revive YCL

• June 14: Decides to form election campaign panel led by Chairman Dahal

• July 17: Dahal proposes work division of CC members

Nepali Congress

• April 2nd week: Holds Mahasamiti conclave on second week; Mahasamiti forms nine-member panel to work out on federalism, forms of governance and election issues

• May: Launches nation-wide campaign for one month

• July: Paudel panel suggests seven-Pradesh model, PM to be elected by House of Representatives and President by electoral colleges

CPN-UML

• May 17-June 30: Launches a nation-wide campaign for polls; prepares report about its strengths; blames UCPN-M for CA’s failure to draft statute; decides to make economic development major agenda for polls

MJF-D

• July: Forms manifesto drafting panel; holds talks with Madhesi parties for alliance

TMDP

• Sept 2012: Formed a team for unification among Madhesi parties

• July: Regional meetings going on

Government

• June 13: Announces poll date

• June 18: Forms Constituency Delimitation Commission

• June 20: Nepal Police announces it’s ready for elections

• July 14: Govt allocates Rs 16 billion for polls

Election Commission

• June 18: Makes public the election timetable

• June 27: HLPC accepts election code of conduct

• July 15: Completes voters’ list

• July 10: Election Code of Conduct finalised

• July 22: EC code of conduct to come into force

Neighbours’ support

• June 23: Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi arrives; China pledges to provide technical support worth about Rs 150 million for polls

• July 9: Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid meets leaders of all major parties; India to provide different types of vehicles (48 for EC, 716 for Nepal Police) worth about Rs 800 million

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NBC HAS NO TEETH TO ACT

Kathmandu, 19 July: The Nepal Bar Council, it seems, has no teeth. The body headed by the attorney general has proved to be ineffective when it comes to punishing lawyers involved in corruption and irregularities, The Himalayan Times reports..

Multiple sources relating to the judiciary confirmed that the NBC had failed to take action against a number of lawyers who face serious charges of breaching the code of conduct and forgery.

The lawyers’ regulatory body though has revoked licences of eight pleaders in the last two decades, it has, till today, only warned advocates involved in such wrongdoings.

A list forwarded by the NBC to the Judicial Council and the Supreme Court shows that it has punished only a few lawyers so far.

As many as 101 lawyers have been found to have been involved in unlawful activities, but successive attorney generals in the past have failed to initiate action against them. Why so? There is a catch.

“Some former attorney generals and senior advocates themselves too are facing such allegations, so it has not been easy for any attorney general to initiate action during his tenure,” said the sources. “Attorney generals lacked courage, there is no doubt about it.”

Attorney General Drona Raj Regmi, who is ex-officio chairman of the NBC and head of the disciplinary committee, has been looking into 101 pending cases. The committee comprises former dean of Law Faculty of Tribhuvan University Amber Pant and senior advocate Bishwodip Adhikary.

While the vetting process was going on before judges’ appointment, the JC had made a list of those lawyers aspiring for judgeship who were facing allegations of wrongdoings.

“Despite their involvement in serious offences, the NBC could not take action against the lawyers,” a source at the JC said, adding, “Yes, some of them were not selected (for judgeship) because they were facing serious allegations.” But the source declined to comment on whether action will be initiated against them.

No decision on Bhattarai’s case

The Nepal Bar Council on Thursday discussed whether to initiate action against senior advocate Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai, who had fabricated a loan deed on a signed blank paper entrusted by his dead client, but failed to reach a conclusion. “We have decided to wait for the full text of the Supreme Court judgment,” a member of the disciplinary committee told The Himalayan Times. On May 16, the apex court had decided that a signed blank paper entrusted to Bhattarai by his client Rabichandra Basnet was turned into a Rs 2.24 lakh deed of loan, which said Basnet had taken the money from the lawyer’s wife Bishnu. After the death of Basnet, Bhattarai had approached his family to claim the amount. According to a source, members at today’s meeting were divided. Fabricating such a document is against the Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 1994 and if found guilty of doing so, it results in revoking of lawyer’s license.

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