Candidates running in elections will now have to declare whether or not they have any 'criminal charges' against them at the time of nomination.

The Election Commission is going to include such a provision in the 'House of Representatives Election Code of Conduct 2082' that candidates must mention this while filling out the self-declaration form. The Commission has stated that the preparation of the code of conduct is in the final stage.

The Commission had prepared a draft of the Election Management Act 29 months ago and submitted it to the government. The draft also included the issues of candidate qualifications. However, the government did not move forward with the draft. In the meantime, since the election to the House of Representatives is due, the Commission is going to prepare the code of conduct in such a way that the issue of 'criminal offenses committed/not committed' should be disclosed in the self-declaration form at the time of candidacy registration.

Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari informed that the issue of whether a criminal case is being investigated, whether a charge sheet has been filed or whether a decision has been made in such cases is being made or not is being made is being included in the code of conduct. If there is no criminal charge, there is no need to mention it further and if so, it should be mentioned which offense.

However, the law does not prevent candidates from being candidates if they are facing criminal charges. People who are under investigation for criminal offenses have been candidates. Although information about such charges has been made public about some candidates, many have not. The commission also expects that accurate information about the candidates will be collected through self-declaration. 

‘To bring transparency in the matter of candidates, an attempt has been made to include the issue of criminal charges or investigation being carried out by the candidates along with the nomination paper,’ said Acting Chief Election Commissioner Bhandari. Other democratic countries have also been practicing this. In neighboring India, there is a provision for candidates to make such a self-declaration while registering their candidacy. 

The Election Act for Members of the House of Representatives 2074 BS prohibits candidates from being candidates only if they have been convicted by a criminal court. Section 13 of the act contains provisions regarding the disqualification of candidates. Section 13(d) prohibits a person who has been convicted of corruption, rape, human trafficking and smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, passport misuse, kidnapping or other criminal offenses involving moral turpitude, or who has been sentenced to life imprisonment or 20 years or more in prison for any offense and whose sentence has become final, from running for office.

Similarly, a person who has been convicted of an organized crime offense or a crime related to dereliction of duty and who has been sentenced to less than 20 years in prison cannot run for office until 6 years have passed since the date of serving such sentence. A person who has been convicted of an offense related to caste discrimination and untouchability, boxing or polygamy and who has been sentenced to prison for such offenses can run for office only after 3 years have passed since the date of serving such sentence. A person who has been convicted under the prevailing election law and who has not served 2 years since the date of serving his sentence cannot run for office. Apart from the aforementioned offenses, there is a legal provision that a person who has been sentenced to 5 years or more in prison for other offenses and has not completed 6 years from the date of serving such sentence cannot be a candidate in the House of Representatives election. 

The House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly Election Guidelines 2079 state that candidates must submit a self-declaration form along with the candidate nomination letter. There is a provision to self-declare on issues such as being fully loyal to the Constitution of Nepal, being a Nepali citizen who has completed 25 years of age, not being disqualified by any federal law, not being employed in a government-funded organization receiving remuneration, not being employed in any position receiving remuneration or financial facilities from government funds. The guidelines mention that candidates must self-declare on 18 such issues. The issue of self-declaration on whether or not criminal charges have been filed will be added to the schedule of the guidelines after being included in the code of conduct. 

The Commission has held discussions on this issue between the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Law and the Election Commission at various stages. There is a consensus on including this in the code of conduct. A Home Ministry official informed that if someone fails to mention the offence through self-declaration, such candidates will be subject to increased surveillance and action will be taken against them. ‘The person concerned is responsible for the issue of self-declaration and the liability created by it,’ said a Home Ministry official. ‘We have also suggested to the Commission to make this provision so that the identity of the tainted and guilty is easily revealed as much as possible.’ Home Ministry spokesperson Anand Kafle said that when the Commission called for a discussion on the issue of criminal offences, they suggested bringing a code of conduct to make everyone responsible and accountable and to include the issue of self-declaration.

Earlier, the Commission had submitted a draft to the Home Ministry to determine the proposed qualifications of candidates and bring a bill accordingly, including making provisions to prevent criminals and defendants in criminal cases in the election. However, the draft is stuck in the house as the parties themselves have not shown ‘interest’ in making the law. Although the Sushila Karki-led electoral government has brought some laws through ordinances, this issue has not moved forward.

Section 9 of the Election Commission Act, 2073 states that ‘in cases where a nomination has been registered but the election results have not been declared, a complaint received by the Commission through an election officer with evidence regarding the disqualification or imminent disqualification of a candidate shall be rejected by the Commission if it is found that the candidate has fulfilled the qualifications as per the law and is found to be disqualified.’ However, apart from this, the Commission itself does not check whether the candidate has been involved in any offence.

Police officers had suggested to the Commission that a ‘personal conduct’ report from the police should be made mandatory for candidates at the time of nomination registration. However, this suggestion has not been implemented. The police conduct report records whether or not the offence was committed. The Police Headquarters maintains a record of investigations conducted by the police and persons under the custody of various courts and judicial/quasi-judicial bodies in the ‘Central Criminal Record System’. The Commission has not used this system to verify the candidacy registration.

The deadline for submitting the closed list for the proportional representation for the 21st Falgun election is 13 and 14 Pus. The registration of candidates for the direct representation has been fixed for 6 Magh. 114 political parties have registered with the commission to participate in the election. The commission is conducting elections for 110 members of the proportional representation and 165 members of the direct representation of the House of Representatives in a single phase on 21st Falgun. The list of 181,68,230 voters, including 89,16,502 women, 92,51,541 men and 187 others, has been included in the record. Out of this, an additional 837,094 new voters have registered for the upcoming election. The commission is yet to make a final decision on the voters as it is in the process of 'screening'.