Election Police Uniform Irregularities Under Investigation

Kathmandu. In the House of Representatives elections held on Falgun 21, the police recruited 133,980 election police. The Armed Police had recruited 15,110 election police and deployed them in the election.

The election police who were on election security duty for 40 days were provided with salary, ration, and uniform equivalent to two security bodies. With the pressure to provide uniforms of the same standard within about 3 weeks, the police and armed police prepared the standards and submitted them to the Home Ministry.

Then Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal approved the procedure related to the election police uniform. Aryal passed the Integrated Procedure (Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, Nepal) for Election Police Recruitment, Selection, Appointment, and Deployment-2082.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority is currently investigating allegations of irregularities in the uniforms provided to the election police.

Both organizations spent approximately 7.83 billion rupees for the election police. Of this, the police spent 7.13 billion 25 million and the armed police spent about 700 million. The election police were bid farewell on Falgun 28.

For their service in election security, each election police received a salary of 34,776 rupees and 846 rupees for ration and travel expenses. Election police received a separate amount for ration. 8,000 rupees were provided for uniforms to those deployed in the mountains, 7,000 in the hills, and 6,000 in the Terai.

Officials from Prime Minister Balendra Shah's secretariat have pressured the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to investigate irregularities in uniform procurement. Following pressure from the Prime Minister's secretariat to expedite the file on irregularities in uniform procurement, the CIAA has initiated a 'detailed investigation' into the complaints filed against officials of both organizations. A high-ranking CIAA official said, 'The investigation into the uniforms has reached a detailed stage.'

CIA Spokesperson, Joint Secretary Suresh Neupane, said he has no information about the ongoing investigation. He said, 'Many investigations are ongoing, and I will not have information until the investigation is complete.'

A joint attorney working at the CIAA is leading the investigation. A high-ranking CIAA official said, 'There is pressure to complete the investigation of the uniform procurement file quickly.'

To purchase necessary uniforms and shoes for the election police, the Police Headquarters provided cash directly to the election police through the District Police Office. An official from the Police Headquarters told Ratopati that the election police purchased uniforms from contractors with the cash received in their accounts. That official said, 'Since the same quality of cloth was required, the Police Headquarters and the District Police Office coordinated with the suppliers.'

High-ranking police officials say that since there were only about 20 places in the Kathmandu Valley that could sew uniforms of the same quality, and there was insufficient time for tendering, uniforms were provided through contractors by creating a procedure.

That official informed that goods were purchased without tender by inviting proposals from those who have been working on police clothing procurement for a long time, and the election police themselves paid for the purchase. A businessman who supplied in the Terai said, 'We directly sold uniforms to the election police at a rate of 6,000 in the Terai districts, and the District Police Office coordinated with us.'

Om Prakash in the Crosshairs

On Baishakh 3, 2083, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung called journalists who cover security matters to the Home Ministry. There, he showed a news report published in a daily newspaper and asked, 'There are reports of corruption in uniform procurement, should Om Prakash be punished or not?'

At that time, Gurung's presentation suggested that he was dissatisfied with former Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal. The news report mentioned that Aryal had committed irregularities in uniform procurement in collusion with IGP Dan Bahadur Karki.

High officials say that the Prime Minister's secretariat is currently increasing pressure on the CIAA and targeting Aryal. A CIAA official said, 'It appears they are trying to bring former Home Minister Aryal and IGP Dan Bahadur Karki into the scope of the investigation.'