Clear hurdles against elections in Madhes, Yadav tells govt

KATHMANDU: Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has urged the government to reach a concrete decision as soon as possible on hurdles of election preparations in the Madhes region.

Addressing a two-day training of trainers on election management the Election Commission organised in Godavari of Lalitpur today, he said the Commission would be in difficulty if the government did not take a concrete decision on the issue.

"It is necessary for the government to make a concrete decision as it is high time for printing the ballot papers and the voters' identity cards in the districts of the Madhes which a have high number of voters," Yadav said, "If the government did not decide, the Election Commission will resolutely and fully gear up for the election preparation by printing the ballot papers for all provinces."

Stressing that the government should fully ensure a safe environment wherein the employees deployed for conducting the elections could work smoothly, he said the Election Commission was moving ahead with the voters' education and management of materials needed for voters despite the complexities.

The government's Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi stressed maintaining fiscal discipline and expressed the confidence that the civil servants would extend cooperation to that end, fulfilling their responsibilities at the minimum cost.

He said the employees should have professionalism and practice neutrality.

A total of 126,000 employees except security forces would be deputed in the local-level elections scheduled to be held in the single phase on May 14.

Over 36,000 individuals will be elected in the elections of 744 local levels.