Kathmandu, March 26 -- The Constitutional Council on Monday picked incumbent Secretary Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya as the chief election commissioner, the post that became vacant after the retirement of Ayodhee Prasad Yadav.

A meeting of the council, in which opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba was absent, also recommended Bishnu Maya Ojha as a member of the Inclusion Commission, according to Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, chairman of the National Assembly.

Thapaliya is a secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration while Ojha is a rights activist.

The five-member Election Commission (EC) now has three commissioners after the retirement of Yadav, along with commissioner Ila Sharma, on Sunday.

The council, however, has...