Kathmandu, April 5:

Chief Election Commissioner, Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, today urged the government not to announce the date for constituent assembly election in haste because lots of things need to be done before that.

Going by the interim constitution, there are only 70 days left for the CA elections to be held but parties are still not clear about the election system, he said.

“The CA election should not be held only for its sake. Please do not announce the date for elections in such a way that it would need revision, and don’t revise the poll date or Nepal will lose her credibility in the international arena,” he said while talking to ministers.

“Several acts and their regulations should be passed, the CA election code of conduct should be prepared, constituencies should be defined, an environment conducive for casting vote in a free and fair manner should be guaranteed and all other issues related with the CA polls should be resolved before announcing the date for an election. And if possible, proper consultation with the UN Mission in Nepal should be done,” he said.

CA poll is possible in mid-June only if the Election Commission can publish election programme by the end of April, but lot of things are yet to be done, he said.

“Legal aspects of the election system is unclear and undecided, three of the six laws necessary for the CA election are yet to be passed and only two of four rules and two of 26 regulations are ready so far,” he said.

Because the number of constituencies are yet to be finalised, the EC has not been able to decide on issues including the number of election officers to be deployed and managing stationery and other supplies.

Acting prime minister Ram Chandra Paudel said the government is committed to holding the election on time and all the preparations would be done on time. “Though holding the CA polls on time is a difficult task, all the state mechanism will work on a war-footing and everything necessary to hold the polls on time will be accomplished. I believe in our capacity,” Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said.

Minister for Information and Communications, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, said it would be difficult to hold CA polls on time if the government worked like in the past. “But, now I see the government is capable of making all preparations on time,” he said.