Kathmandu, February 19
The Prachanda government is announcing local level elections on Monday. But it will announce the exact date for the polls only after consultations with the Election Commission.
At a Sunday morning meeting between leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress and the CPN-Maoist Centre in Baluwatar, the two sides rejected the request coming from the United Democratic Madheshi Front to announce poll date only after Constitution amendment. A source close to Prime Minister Prachanda said the two sides agreed on announcing local level poll date on Monday itself.
PM will hold talks with the EC to set the poll date. EC has proposed conducting voting in two phases — on Jeth 1 and 21 — though efforts are afoot to push the dates further.
The Congress has taken a stand that local elections shall take place within Baishakh — about three months from now. The source said: The first phase of voting can take place within Baishakh and the second phase can happen in the first week of Jeth. We will hold talks with the EC along that line.
UDMF factor
At the Baluwatar meeting, the two sides agreed on holding talks with the UDMF before poll date announcement. The talks are aimed at addressing the UDMF demands regarding local levels. According to the source, preparations are afoot to accept the report of the Local Level Restructuring Commission and add some more local levels.
After the meeting, Centre leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha Prakash said: We are in talks with our friends from Madhesh. We are not expecting them to announce a movement because we are committed to conducting elections by taking the Constitution amendment process to a logical conclusion. We remain firm on that promise.
