KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 7

The Cabinet today decided to hold local polls to the 753 local levels on May 13.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, who is also the government's spokesperson, said the government decided to hold local polls in single phase on May 13. He said there was no need to amend any law to hold local polls. Earlier, the ruling alliance had decided to hold local polls on May 5 after amending legal provisions to remove any ambiguity.

Left partners of the ruling alliance had earlier said local polls could be pushed six months back, but the main opposition CPN-UML and civil society members opposed the idea of delaying local polls. The tenure of local governments end on May 19.

Asked why the government did not decide to seek amendments to prevailing laws, Karki said the Election Commission advised the government that there was no need to amend any law to hold local polls on May 13.

Spokesperson for the EC Shaligram Sharma Paudel said the EC was prepared to hold local polls on May 13.

Election Commissioner Ishwari Paudel told THT that the EC would intensify its preparation from tomorrow by making calendar of events for more than 50 activities that the poll panel will have to carry out in the run-up to polls.

Paudel said that single-phase election would cut cost but it would be challenging in terms of deployment of personnel and management.

The EC has decided to stop voter-list preparation from tomorrow as the prevailing laws stipulate that the voter-list preparation should be stopped after the announcement of poll dates. The EC estimates that the government will have to spend approximately Rs 12 billion for local polls.

The Election Commission had first suggested April 27 and May 5 for local polls, but as the government delayed the announcement, the commission had suggested May 18.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.