Ready for polls if laws are ready, Election Commission tells PM

KATHMANDU: Commissioners at the Election Commission on Monday told Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli that the constitutional body would be ready to hold elections of local, provincial and federal levels if the government prepared necessary laws on time.

PM Oli had visited the Commission office today to take stock of its functioning including preparations for the elections.

"He asked us about overall preparations for the upcoming elections," EC Joint-Secretary Bir Bahadur Rai, who was present during the meeting, told THT Online, "The Commissioners here requested him to expedite procedures to formulate laws necessary for the polls."

According to PM's press coordinator Chetan Adhikari, the Commissioners had expressed readiness to conduct the elections if the government announced dates for them.

Adhikari said the Prime Minister-led team had asked the Commission if they had prepared timetables for preparations of the polls.

Accompanying the Prime Minister were Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Agni Prasad Kharel, Minister for Home Affairs Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Oli's party CPN-UML Parliamentary Party's deputy leader Subas Chandra Nembang and UML General Secretary Ishwor Pokharel.

Acting Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav and Election Commissioner Ila Sharma had represented the constitutional body during the meeting.

Though it is yet to announce any specific date for the election formally, the government has been saying that it would hold local bodies' elections by mid-December.