The Election Commission has scrapped the nomination of Nagarik Unmukti Party Nepal leader Resham Chaudhary, who was convicted of masterminding the 2015 Tikapur carnage, in accordance with the Act Relating to the Election of Members of the House of Representatives.

Even as the complaints were lodged against five candidates in respective election offices, only Chaudhary’s candidacy has been scrapped. He had filed nomination from Kailali constituency-1.

Complaints were also filed against Rastriya Swantantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane, Nepali Communist Party joint coordinator Madhav Nepal, and Rajib Khatri, RSP candidate from Bhaktapur-2.

Kul Bahadur GC, assistant spokesperson at the commission, said the complaints against candidates other than Chaudhary did not hold up.

The commission took three bases to scrap Chaudhary’s candidacy. He had been sentenced to life in prison. Although President Ramchandra Paudel, on the government’s recommendation, granted him clemency in May 2023 by commuting his remaining sentence, the decision did not annul the court ruling. The conviction continues to prevail, leading to his disqualification as per the Act.

Likewise, Criminal Code 2017 prohibits individuals convicted of serious criminal offenses and sentenced accordingly from becoming candidates for membership in the House of Representatives. Similarly, the commission has cited the previous instance in October 2022 when his candidacy was scrapped for the previous lower house poll.

The Tikapur incident occurred on August 24, 2015 during a protest organised by the Tharu community against a government decision to place Kailali district in a province with seven hill districts. The Tharu community had been protesting for months in the run-up to the promulgation of the constitution, demanding a separate Tharuhat province comprising several historically Tharu-dominated districts.

On that day, the Tharuhat group had asked its supporters to come out in protest by ignoring the prohibitory orders imposed by the local administration. Violent clashes occurred between protesters and police, resulting in nine deaths—eight police and a toddler. And on September 15, 2015, police filed murder charges against Resham and others. He was convicted from the district and high courts. In May 2023, the Supreme Court also upheld the subordinate court’s ruling. However, he got a Presidential clemency that commuted his remaining sentence even before the court had issued the full text of its verdict.

Presenting his clarification before the commission, Chaudhary had claimed that Presidential clemency amounted to amnesty in the charges against him. The commission has concluded that his justifications were not in line with the existing rules.

A writ petition challenging the Presidential clemency is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

Separately, the election office for Kathmandu constituency-10 has scrapped the nomination of Sumitra Basnet because she had been blacklisted as loan defaulter. Likewise, in Nawalparasi-2, the election office validated the nomination of Bharat Bahadur Thapa of the Nepali Congress. Although former minister Devendra Raj Kandel had also filed his nomination as the party’s candidate, Thapa’s candidacy was validated over Kandel’s as he had filed his nomination earlier than Kandel.

Even as the election commission has upheld the candidacies of Nepal and Lamichhane, they will not be allowed to function as lawmakers.

Nepal was suspended as a member of the lower house under Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002 which says one holding a public position gets automatically suspended after a corruption case is lodged against him. Even if he wins the election again, the same provision will apply and he will be suspended. For him to function as a lawmaker, the court must acquit him by the time election results are announced.

Likewise, Lamichhane is facing cases related to cooperative fraud, organized crime, and money laundering, and was remanded to judicial custody for trial by an order of the Butwal bench of the High Court, Tulsipur. He was later released from custody by an order of the same court. After the attorney general withdrew the organized crime and money laundering charges against him, he became eligible to contest the election.

Had the attorney general’s office not withdrawn those charges, he would not even have been eligible to file his nomination. Section 159 of the National Criminal Procedure Code, 2017, provides that in cases involving money laundering, remedies such as pardon, suspension, commutation, or reduction of sentence are not available.

As many as 3,485 candidates from 68 parties are in the race for 165 first-past-the-post seats in the 275-strong lower house.