KATHMANDU: Formation of an all-party mechanism in Kathmandu Metropolitan City has been halted after the Election Commission failed to provide the list of political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly from the metropolis.

Ministries of Local Development and Finance have changed the criteria for the formation of the mechanism to work in the absence of elected representatives by including all the parties in the CA. Earlier, there used to be a seven-party mechanism.

“Although we wrote to the EC to provide the list of the parties two weeks ago, we’re yet to receive it,” said Saligram Rijal, under-secretary at the KMC. The void has created hurdles for the municipal council to approve the annual budget and programmes for the current fiscal.

The KMC had asked the EC, Kathmandu District EC and CA Secretariat in writing for the list. The EC provided only the list of parties contesting the CA polls. The CA secretariat suggested consulting the EC for the purpose.

According to the EC, altogether 40 political parties contested the polls from Kathmandu. There are 24 parties in the CA. Uddhav Prasad Baskota, spokesperson for the EC, expressed ignorance about this matter. He said about 18 parties were represented in the CA from Kathmandu.

Approving the budget is crucial for the implementation of the planned projects in the KMC. Last year’s delay hit the timely completion of the programmes. Niranjan Baral, newly appointed executive chief of the KMC, however, said the meeting would be held soon. The estimated annual budget of the KMC stands at Rs 1.85 billion.

The council meeting of Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City is also in limbo owing to the delay in the formation of an all-party

mechanism.