Kathmandu, February 1
Prime Minister Prachanda has finally decided to announce local level elections. If there is no external and internal pressure, Prachanda will make an announce to this effect at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
A highly-placed source at the Prime Minister’s Office told Onlinekhabar: Thursday’s Cabinet meeting will announce local level elections. “Local level elections will take place in the last week of Baishakh (the first week of May). On Thursday, PMO will write to the Election Commission to start preparations for the same.
The source added that Thursday’s Cabinet meeting will not announce exact poll date as it is yet to bring the United Democratic Madheshi Front into an agreement. The government will announce poll date in a few weeks after reaching an understanding with the EC and political parties.
The main opposition had urged the government to announce exact poll date, the source quoted PM as saying. According to the source, PM will fix the election date after reaching an understanding with the UDMF.
A leader from the ruling CPN-Maoist Centre said: Prime Minister is in favour of addressing UDMF’s demands. The CPN-UML should understand this.
The decision to conduct local level elections in the third week of Baishakh will give the Election Commission time to prepare for elections. In the meantime, PM will expedite efforts to reach an understanding with UDMF. PM is trying his best to go for elections by giving the UDMF a respectable alternative, the Maoist leader said.
Meanwhile, the Parliament has already passed most of the election-related Bills. It is yet to pass some electoral laws due to disputes over threshold. Announcement of tentative poll date will let EC start poll preparations. EC has suggested the government to strive for an agreement on threshold by holding discussions (with fringe parties) for a week or two, the source said.
