Kathmandu, December 13
Local elections can take place in Nepal in April if civic bodies’ structure prescribed by the Interim Constitution is retained, Nepal’s election commission says.
The commission’s statement comes as Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML chairman KP Oli have publicly said that old civic bodies need to be retained for elections to take place in April, as demanded by the new constitution.
A senior commission official told Onlinekhabar that laws necessary to conduct local elections are already in place, and organisational and physical infrastructure is on standby for the same. The official said the commission would have no problem conducting local election within April.
The official said the commission has backed Deuba’s proposal after assessing that restructuring of local bodies under the new constitution will take time. Political parties are yet to reach consensus on the restructuring of local bodies. A constitutional commission formed to look into the delineation of civic bodies is yet to submit its report, which is bound to be controversial.
