KATHMANDU, Nov 28: The Election Commission (EC) has canceled the decision of the home ministry to transfer six under-secretaries, including three chief district officers (CDOs).
Sending a letter to the ministry on Monday, the election body has asked the government to cancel the transfers immediately. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) had transferred the ministry officials, who are responsible for managing the overall elections in the districts, just ahead of the first phase of the elections. EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal said that the transfers were revoked as they were made without seeking prior consent from the EC as per the election code of conduct.
On October 22, the ministry had transferred the CDOs of three districts without prior consent of the EC. CDOs Bhupendra Thapa (Solukhumbu), Jagdish Raj Baral (Nuwakot) and Heera Devi Poudel (Rasuwa) were transferred by the government when the election code of conduct had already come into effect.
Home Ministry transfers 25 Joint Secretaries and 16 CDOs
The ministry then transferred Sunil Khanal to Solukhumbu, Birendra Yadav to Nuwakot and Chomendra Neupane to Rasuwa.
Soon after their transfers, the EC had asked the ministry to submit the original minutes related to the decision.
As per the election code of conduct, the government should not recruit, appoint or transfer any government official once the election code of conduct is in force. The election code of conduct comes into force along with the announcement of the election date.
