Three NA members sworn-in, not eligible to cast vote in presidential election

Kathmandu, March 9: Three National Assembly members nominated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari have administered oath of office and secrecy today.
Senior-most member of the National Assembly, Tara Devi Bhatta, administered oath of office and secrecy to NA members—Dr Yubraj Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Dr Bimala Poudyal at the Federal Parliament Building. Earlier, the three members had not taken oath of office and secrecy at a swearing-in ceremony of the NA members organised on March 4 after the Supreme Court had issued an interim order staying their oath.
They took the oath of office and secrecy today after a division bench of Justices Kedar Prasad Chalise and Sarada Prasad Ghimire on March 7 scraped the short-term interim order issued by the government, paving the way for the swearing-in of Khatiwada, Bidari and Poudyal.
Gopal Basnet, Krishna Prasad Poudel and Chandani Joshi, nominated on February 9 as the National Assembly members by the erstwhile government led by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba had filed writ petition naming Office of the President, and Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers as defendants, saying there nomination was not unconstitutional.

The KP Sharma Oli-led government on February 20 had recommended the name of Dr Khatiwada, Bidari and Dr Poudyal to the post of NA members after withdrawing the name of other three members nominated by Deuba-led government.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari nominated Dr Khatiwada, Bidari and Dr Poudyal to the post on the same day. Although Dr Khatiwada, Bidari and Dr Poudyal took the oath of office and secrecy, they could not cast vote in the Presidential election as the Election Commission has published the final name list of voters on March 6 in this connection. There are 880 NA members, members of House of Representatives and provincial Assemblies are the voters in the presidential election.
Name of three NA members nominated by the President at the recommendation of the government and Rajeev Gurung, a member of House of Representatives, has not been included in the list of voters, so they could not cast vote in this situation, according to the EC.
However, a meeting of the office-bearers of the EC has the right to make some decisions regarding removing obstacle in case written information was received from the Secretariat of Federal Parliament in this regard, said EC Spokesperson Nabaraj Dhakal. (RSS)