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| Formation | 12 November 1951; 74 years ago (1951-11-12) |
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| Headquarters | KantipathKathmandu,Nepal[1] |
| Coordinates | 27°42′43″N85°18′51″E / 27.711887°N 85.314290°E /27.711887; 85.314290 |
Chief Election Commissioner, Nepal | Mr. Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya (2019 April) |
Election Commissioner | Narendra Dahal |
Election Commissioner | Ishwori Prasad Paudyal |
| Website | www.election.gov.np |
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TheElection Commission, Nepal (Nepali:निर्वाचन आयोग, नेपाल;Nirvācana āyōg, Nēpāl) is a constitutional body responsible for conducting and monitoringelections, as well as registering parties andcandidates and reporting election outcomes, inNepal. It was born out of the 1950 revolution in Nepal, and was established in law in 1951, although it has been changed somewhat by law over time. It has six members who serve for six-year terms, as established by the Constitution of Nepal. During theConstituent Assembly elections in 2008, it was criticized for not fully upholding its duties, but was acknowledged to have managed the elections well nonetheless.
The first election commissioner wasSubarna Shamsher Rana in 1951.
The year 1950 was important in thehistory of Nepal: in that year, theRana dynasty, which had controlled the government for exactly 104 years, was overthrown.[2] Thecoup d'état marked Nepal's first attempt at democracy;[2] one of the primary goals of the revolution was to eventually establish theNepalese Constituent Assembly.[3] The democratic experiment was short-lived; in less than ten years,King Mahendra dissolved the government in favor of thePanchayat system.[2] However, another major accomplishment was the establishment of the National Election Commission in 1951.[4]
The commission was declared by law to be independent of the government in 1966.[5] This has been confirmed by Nepal'sinterim constitution in 2007.[6]
It has five members, consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and four others.[6] The members serve for 6 years.[6] In order to enforce its election guidelines, the commission employs a group of around 240,000 officials, mostly civil servants, to monitor elections.[6]
When the commission was established, the members were chosen by the King.[5] In 1989,King Birendra's constitution declared that the Chief Election Commissioner would still be appointed by the king, but the others would not.[5] 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[6]
The commission came under some criticism during the Constituent Assembly elections for failing to enforce the code of conduct during elections.[7] It also failed to fully educate voters about the election.[7] However, it was acknowledged to have helped the elections run smoothly overall.[8] The commissions role was highly criticized in 2021 is being criticized for no decision inNepal Communist Party andPeople's Socialist Party, Nepal dispute. However, Supreme Court took decision to re-establishMaoist-Centre andUML, commission gave no decision though signature of majority central committee members were submitted time and again by a faction.[9] Same is the case forPSP-N.
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