Dec 20, Kathmandu - The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has issued new criteria for selecting candidates for the upcoming National Assembly (Magh 11) and House of Representatives (Falgun 21) elections. The party has given clear instructions to the candidates to be completely clean in legal, economic, social and ideological terms.

According to the circular, candidates for the House of Representatives must be Nepali citizens who have reached at least 25 years of age and candidates for the National Assembly must have reached 35 years of age. Persons convicted of corruption, social crimes or financial irregularities will not be eligible to become candidates. It has been made mandatory to be ready to update tax-revenue and clarify the source of assets and income.

Socially, there is a provision that individuals convicted of racial-gender discrimination, domestic violence, sexual harassment, or human trafficking are not allowed to become candidates. Politically, full commitment to the party's policies and programs, continuous contribution to the movement, and popularity are mandatory criteria.

In the direct route, there is a provision to recommend a maximum of five candidates, including at least one youth and one woman, from each constituency, while in the proportional route, priority is given to women, Dalits, indigenous people, Madhesis, and families of martyrs and missing persons. There is a complete ban on recommending more than one person from the same family.

The CPN leadership has pledged to strictly implement these criteria and field only clean and people-oriented candidates.