Nepal: The Election Commission has asked the Nepal government to announce the date for local elections at the earliest.
“As the delay in
announcement of polling date will create complications in management of
practical and technical aspects, we request the government to announce the date
in consultation with the commission at the earliest as per Clause 4(1) of the Local Level
Election Act 2017,” states a press statement issued
by the Election Commission on Tuesday.
The
Election Commission had proposed the government to hold the local polls in one
go on April 27 and if it is to be conducted in two phases the second phase
could be held on May 5.
The
commission authorities had met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba twice on October
25 last year and on January 22 and had briefed that the terms of all the local
governments elected in three phases will end on May 19.
According to Election Commission officials, the commission was
seeking time from the prime minister to request him to announce a date at the
earliest but they have not received any response.
“We
were waiting for a response from the prime minister’s office,” said Dinesh
Thapaliya, chief election commissioner. “But to no avail. Probably we will get
time after the National Assembly polls.” After consulting a
‘select’ group of legal and constitutional experts on Sunday
the meeting of the coalition partners had decided to amend the Local
Level Election Act 2017 saying its clause related to local
levels polls contradicts the Article 225 of the constitution.
The five-party ruling coalition has been mulling over postponing the
local polls under the pretext of holding all three polls
simultaneously.
“Actually we
wanted to tell the government that the commission should be consulted if the
government was thinking of revising the dates proposed by us,” said one of the
election commissioners. “We will brief the prime minister on the constitutional
and level provisions and the difficulties the commission will have to face if
the polls are delayed.”
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