Kathmandu, April 24
The main opposition party CPN-UML has set two conditions for holding local level elections in two phases.
A Standing Committee meeting of the party held on Monday morning at the Chairman KP Sharma Oli’s residence in Balkot of Bhaktapur demanded that the second-phase polls be held before the annual budget announcement.
The constitution requires the government to present the annual budget plan for next fiscal on May 29 while the government has decided to hold the polls in four provinces on June 14.
Likewise, the opposition party has also sought a guarantee of agitating Madheshi Morcha’s participation in the polls notwithstanding the success or failure of the constitution amendment bill registered in Parliament.
“The Madheshi Morcha has not guaranteed that it will take part in the second phase elections as well,” UML Secretary and Chief of the party’s Publicity Department, Yogesh Bhattarai, informed after the meeting, “They are ready to join the polls only after constitution amendment.”
“The game has begun to skip the elections under various pretexts,” Bhattarai said, informing the leaders expressed similar views in the meeting.
Bhattarai also commented that the one-month interval between the two phases of polls was too long.
‘To invest energy for failure of amendment bill’
Meanwhile, the party decided to invest all energy to make the constitution amendment bill registered by the government in Parliament a failure.
The party would work to make the bill a failure before the government tabled it in House, arguing the bill would deprive people’s representatives at the local level of their rights, according to Bhattarai.
The party, however, said it would not obstruct the House proceedings.
“No one can put the whole nation and the constitution in jeopardy for power trade of few parties and leaders,” Bhattarai said, “We will draw the government’s attention not to forward such proposals.”
