Kathmandu, April 30
CPN-Maoist Centre leader Barsha Man Pun has assured that the first phase of local level elections will be held on May 14.
While speculations are rife that the government is planning to defer the polls to June so as to hold them in the single phase as parties have been engaged in the debate over constitution amendment bill, Pun, a confidant of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said, “Rest assured that the May 14 polls will not be postponed.”
“If we cannot do elections on May 14, the elections on June 14 will also be uncertain.”
“Parties, voters and the Election Commission are ready for the Phase-I elections on May 14,” Pun told Onlinekhabar in an interview on Saturday, “There is no any reason to postpone the elections.”
Responding to a question that the constitutional compulsion to present the budget for next fiscal year on May 29 might block the government from holding the second phase of elections on June 14, Pun said, “If we face some difficulty, if a hurdle is seen in constitution implementation and the elections, or if the parties have a misunderstanding over the issue, there is the possibility of constitution amendment.”
The former finance minister, however, also suggested that a political mechanism could be formed to ensure that no programme affecting the elections would be included in the budget announcement.
In a different context, the Maoist leader claimed that the government’s constitution amendment proposal could garner two-third majority votes in House without the main opposition CPN-UML backing it.
