Election Commission, Nepal

The year 1950 was important in the history of Nepal: in that year, the Rana dynasty, which had controlled the government for exactly 104 years, was overthrown.[1] The coup d'état marked Nepal's first attempt at democracy;[1] one of the primary goals of the revolution was to eventually establish the Nepalese Constituent Assembly.[2] The democratic experiment was short-lived; in less than ten years, King Mahendra dissolved the government in favor of the Panchayat system.[1] However, another major accomplishment was the establishment of the National Election Commission in 1951.[3]

The commission was declared by law to be independent of the government in 1966.[4] This has been confirmed by Nepal's interim constitution in 2007.[5]

It has five members, consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and four others.[5] The members serve for 6 years.[5] In order to enforce its election guidelines, the commission employs a group of around 240,000 officials, mostly civil servants, to monitor elections.[5]

When the commission was established, the members were chosen by the King.[4] In 1989, King Birendra's constitution declared that the Chief Election Commissioner would still be appointed by the king, but the others would not.[4] The interim constitution further amended the body's composition in 2006: all five members were made under appointment of the Prime Minister. The new constitution of Nepal has made the provision of appointment of chief election commission and other members by the president on the recommendation of constitutional members[5]

The commission came under some criticism during the Constituent Assembly elections for failing to enforce the code of conduct during elections.[6] It also failed to fully educate voters about the election.[6] However, it was acknowledged to have helped the elections run smoothly overall.[7]