According to the commission, a provision has been added requiring candidates to self-declare that they have not been convicted of corruption by the original court and are not under appeal, have not completed work as per the contract agreement, or have not disrupted construction work.
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The Election Commission has revised the candidate self-declaration form and added six more topics. Now, candidates will have to declare themselves on 24 topics when nominating candidates for the House of Representatives.
According to the commission, a provision has been added for candidates to declare that they have not been convicted of corruption by the first instance court and are not under appeal, have not completed work as per the contract agreement, or have not disrupted construction work.
Similarly, if a company or organization is on the blacklist, then at that time they are not holding the position of director, officer or chief executive officer of that organization, and have not caused any loss or damage to such cooperative organization by embezzling funds contrary to the prevailing law while holding the position of director of a cooperative organization.
A new matter has also been added to the self-declaration list, namely, that the amount has been recovered from the final audit and that it has been established that the person is personally invalid. Another new matter for candidates to declare is that they have not been arrested and are not absconding if an arrest warrant has been issued in accordance with the prevailing law. The commission has revised the self-declaration form in Schedule-6 under the Election Guidelines for Members of the House of Representatives, 2082. The commission has stated that it has broadened the scope this time compared to the list of self-declarations prepared by the commission during the 2079 elections.
The commission had prepared a draft of the Election Management Act and submitted it to the government in Ashad 2080. The draft added the issue of disqualification of candidates. However, the government did not move forward with the draft bill. The country has entered the House of Representatives elections without a new law. The commission has included some of the issues proposed in the draft bill in the self-declaration form.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari says that the self-declaration form has been revised to discourage guilty and tainted people from running for election. ‘Voters should know what kind of candidate he is and what his background is. "It is also to make it easier for voters to choose candidates," he says. "On the other hand, it is also to discourage criminals and allow clean candidates to compete."
Taking advantage of the loopholes in the law, people who are on the police's fugitive list, facing corruption cases, blacklisted, and those who have caused damage to the state through contracts have been becoming candidates. Self-declaration alone will not prevent such people from becoming candidates. This is only a moral issue. The law itself has determined the qualifications and disqualifications of candidates. Bhandari believes that self-declaration will make candidates responsible and accountable to voters.
Although information about the charges against some candidates is made public, many are not made public. Bhandari says that the commission also expects that self-declaration will collect accurate information about candidates. The House of Representatives Member Election Act 2074 BS prohibits candidates from becoming candidates only if they have been convicted and proven guilty by a criminal court. Section 13 (d) of the Act 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.
There is a legal provision that 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. There is a provision that a person who has been convicted of an offense related to caste discrimination and untouchability, boxing or polygamy 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 of his sentence cannot run for office. Apart from these, 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 Election Guidelines state that the candidate must submit a self-declaration form along with the candidate nomination letter. The form includes matters such as being fully loyal to the constitution, 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, and not being employed in any position receiving remuneration or financial facilities from government funds.
Yagya Bhattarai, Chief Joint Secretary of the Commission's Law Division, says that the self-declaration form states that even if the law does not prohibit certain matters, the person's morality should guide them. The candidate must declare himself to the election officer. The Commission will provide or make public information about his candidate if voters ask for it. There is a legal provision that the candidate must also submit his property details and personal details. The candidate must also give the Commission permission to make such details public.
