- -Urges EC to revise poll date
- -Commissioners urge LLRC report
- -ECboard meeting scheduled Saturday, likely to suggest May 22
KATHMANDU, Feb 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday urged the Election Commission (EC) to consider all options for holding elections successfully in May, saying the polls should be conducted before the monsoons at all cost for the sake of meeting the constitutional deadline.
In a meeting with election commissioners held at Baluwatar Friday evening, PM Dahal urged the conduct of local elections in May to ensure that all three sets of elections take place within January 2018, the deadline stipulated by the constitution. "Consider all your options, including revision of the previously proposed poll date, doing it in phases, or all at once. But it should happen before the monsoons," Election Commissioner Ila Sharma quoted Dahal as saying.
As per the PM's request, a full board meeting of the EC is taking place Saturday to suggest to the government a final date for local elections. "The EC will hold a board meeting on Saturday in the presence of senior staff and give the government a final date the same day," said Commissioner Sharma.
Local polls on May 14 at any cost: Nidhi
Following intensive discussions with the PM, the EC has made up its mind to suggest May 22 as the date for local elections, revising its previous suggestions, multiple sources at the EC said. "He seemed quite serious in holding the election and we will also go ahead and consider the difficulties in meeting his commitment," said Sharma.
Previously, the election body had proposed to the government to conduct the local election in two phases, saying that it would require an interval of at least 15 days after the first phase to prepare for the second phase. Calculating the days required for poll preparations, the commission has proposed May 15 for first-phase local elections and June 3 for the second phase.
Responding to the PM's concerns, the election commissioners expressed their readiness to conduct the elections, according to another election commissioner, Ishwori Prasad Paudyal. They, however, asked the government to provide the report of the Local Level Restructuring Commission (LLRC) in time, saying problmes arise in locating polling stations on the ground.
In Friday's meeting, the PM stressed the need of increased mobilization of human resources to conduct the election at one go. He was also open to avoiding Budget Day. Some election commissioners expressed reservations about holding the election after Budget Day (29 May), arguing that the budget could influence the voting. "Ideally, the budget should not be unveiled during an election as it may affect the polling if it turns out to be populist," said one commissioner who did not want to be named, "But we have to consider this aspect for the sake of a timely election."
Both the government and the EC are under pressure to hold the local election within this spring in order to meet the January 2018 deadline set by the constitution. Since Nepal's climatic conditions offers only two windows for elections-spring and autumn- the local election needs to be completed before mid-June if the remaining two elections are to be held before the constitutional deadline.
