Nine major political parties, excluding ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (UML), have rejected the Election Commission (EC)'s proposed "Political Party Self-Evaluation Procedure 2082", calling it an unconstitutional overreach.
The decision was made during a meeting on Wednesday at the Maoist Center’s parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar. Senior leaders, including Rajendra Pandey of the CPN (Unified Socialist), accused the EC of attempting to "control parties" through the new framework.
“The Commission has no right to create laws—only the parliament does,” Pandey told Nepalkhabar. "If the government wants this, bring it to the House for discussions. We won’t comply with rules outside the EC’s jurisdiction."
The disputed guidelines require parties to conduct internal evaluations and submit reports to the EC by August 7. Maoist Center Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Unified Socialist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal argued the proposal violates existing laws and undermines party autonomy.
Maoist leader Barshaman Pun went further, alleging the EC is being used by the ruling coalition to “suppress smaller parties.” Janamat Party Chief CK Raut echoed the sentiment, accusing the EC of bias: “They’re deliberately neglecting smaller parties’ records to sideline them.”
The dissenting parties plan to formally notify the EC of their stance on Thursday.
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