Kathmandu, August 9
Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav proposes to hold elections to the federal House of Representatives before Provincial Assembly elections.
He further says there is no sufficient time to hold both the elections before January 21, 2018, the deadline set by the constitution to hold the polls.
Yadav’s statement comes after top leaders of major political parties including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba have been pressing the constitutional body to hold both the polls together.
“We have already told the government that possibility of holding both the polls is almost over now,” he tells Onlinekhabar, “But, elections to the House of Representatives could be held before January 21.”
According to him, the provincial polls will be impossible to hold as laws related to the elections and the report of Constituency Delineation Commission are not finalised yet. The Commission has been demanding these documents for last few months.
The CDC has just begun its task and it may take few more weeks to prepare the report.
Yadav proposes to hold the parliamentary polls in November-December if the government announces the date within next one week.
Meanwhile, the top poll official reiterates that holding the both polls together involves legal and logistic complications. He, however, maintains that the government, the Commission and major political parties can sit together and settle the issue.
But, Home Minister Janardan Sharma says the government is committed to holding both the polls before the deadline and it cannot make any compromise at any circumstance.
