Venkaiah Naidu wishes Nepali Counterpart on re-election

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India's Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has wished Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun on his re-election and wished to work together to advance Indo-Nepal partnership.

The Indian Mission to Nepal took to Twitter to convey the congratulatory message from Indian Vice President to his Nepali counterpart.

"Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu sends a congratulatory letter to Rt. Hon'ble Mr. Nanda Bahadur Pun felicitatating on his appointment as Vice President of Nepal. Expresses his wish to work together to advance India-Nepal partnership for mutual benefit of the people," the Indian Mission to Nepal tweeted.

Nanda Bahadur Pun retained the post for the second term as the election commission of Nepal announced him as the Vice President of Nepal after no candidacy was filed in against him.

Nepal on October, 2017 endorsed new electoral law for the President and Vice President's election, which had barred anyone out of the parliament or any state assemblies to stand in fray for the post also has erased the provision of security deposit of Nepali Rupees 1,00,000 and 75,000 for the candidates of President and Vice President with filing of nomination free of cost but making five supporters and five proposers mandatory to stand in the fray.

The newly endorsed bill also has the age limitation of not less than 45 years and naturalised Nepali citizenship to stand for the election. Also, it has prohibited the people accused and jailed for more than 20 years in corruption, human trafficking, property purification, drug trafficking, foreclosure charges to stand for the post.

But the people indulged in organised crimes and other similar cases can contest for the post after six years of their release if they have completed the prison sentence for less than 20 years. The blacklisted ones also can contest the election after getting their name removed from the list.

Also, the law has made the separate allocation of elections for the President and Vice President as it is not possible as the bill has the compulsory provision of having the candidate of different sects and genders to contest for the Post of President and Vice President. The bill does not allow the same gender or same ethnic community to stand for the post of state head.

Nepal last week only had elected Bidhya Devi Bhandari as First President of Federal Nepal.