Kathmandu, February 2

The government has decided to officially communicate to the Election Commission to make necessary preparations for conducting local bodies’ elections in the third or fourth week of May.

A Cabinet meeting held this evening took a decision to formally write tomorrow to the Election Commission to do the groundwork for conducting elections for village councils and municipalities between May 14 and 24, according to Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Karki.

“With this decision, uncertainty about elections has been put to rest,” Karki added.

Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi told The Himalayan Times that the exact poll dates would be announced later after addressing the concerns of Madhesi parties and acting on complaints against reports prepared by the Local Bodies’ Restructuring Committee.

Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav told this daily that the government’s decision to send a written letter to the EC urging it to make preparations for the polls would make EC’s task easier.

He, however, added that it would have been better had the poll dates been announced.

CPN-UML Central Committee member Rabindra Adhikari said if the government was serious about holding elections, it would have announced an election date, and not taken an ambiguous decision to ask the Election Commission to prepare for polls,” Adhikari told The Himalayan Times.

Chairman of Sadbhawana Party Rajendra Mahato said if a revised constitution amendment bill was not passed, local polls would not be held, rendering EC’s preparation for the polls meaningless.

The civic bodies — village development committees and municipalities — have been running without elected heads for the last 15 years. Civic poll were last held in 1997.

The Cabinet also decided to hold talks with all the political parties before announcing poll dates in order to build conducive environment for the civic elections.

The Parliament has already endorsed all bills that the Election Commission had sought to conduct local elections.

The Cabinet has formed a three-member task force under the coordination of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Local Development Hit Raj Pandey in order to make suggestions on the report recently submitted by the LBRC.

Minister for Supplies Deepak Bohara and industries minister Joshi are members of the task force, which is primarily mandated to come up with suggestions regarding the civic bodies’ structures in Province 2, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.