News Summary
Prepared after review.
- The ANFA elections scheduled for Chaitra 13 have been postponed.
- The ANFA Election Committee announced on Thursday that the election is deferred until further notice.
- The National Sports Council suspended ANFA for three months on Wednesday for not complying with its directives.
12 Chaitra, Kathmandu – The All Nepal Football Association’s (ANFA) elections have been postponed following a suspension imposed by the National Sports Council (NSC).
The ANFA Election Committee issued a notice stating that the election originally scheduled for Friday, Chaitra 13, has been postponed until further notice.
“The ANFA Secretariat received a letter dated 2082/12/11 (Nepali calendar) from the National Sports Council informing that ANFA has been suspended for three months. This letter was received by the Election Committee on 2082/12/12. Consequently, the polling scheduled for 2082/12/13 has been postponed until a new notice is issued,” the notice reads.
This marks the third postponement of the ANFA elections. Initially, the ANFA executive committee had decided to hold the elections on Magh 28 in Jhapa. However, after a case was filed at Patan High Court against this decision, the court issued an interim order suspending the election.
The second postponement occurred when elections scheduled for Falgun 27 were deferred due to the applicability of the election code of conduct for the House of Representatives and upon receipt of a letter from the Election Commission.
Repeated non-compliance with directives led the NSC executive committee, at its Wednesday meeting, to suspend ANFA’s leadership for three months under Section 29(2) of the Sports Development Act 2077.
Following ANFA’s suspension, Kumar KC, a rival candidate for the presidency, announced his faction would not participate in the elections.
Despite initially insisting on conducting the elections by Wednesday, ANFA ultimately decided to postpone the elections today.
Controversy arose as the current ANFA leadership sought to hold early elections before the completion of their term, which is not outlined in the organization’s statute.
The NSC had repeatedly warned ANFA against holding elections without its approval. Yet, ANFA insisted on proceeding with the elections on Chaitra 13, leading to the council’s decision to suspend the association.
