Wants to delay local polls till November, but UML not ready
KATHMANDU, JANUARY 20
CPN-Maoist Centre chair's proposal to hold parliamentary elections in April and local polls in November-December has angered the CPN-UML.
In his interview with some online news portals, Dahal said he favoured parliamentary polls in April because in the face of prolonged UML obstruction to the Parliament, only fresh elections could offer a solution as there was no possibility of getting any bill passed in the Parliament.
Dahal has said that pursuant to Article 225 of the constitution, local elections could be held six months after the expiry of the elected representatives' tenure and the relevant law's provision that local polls should be held two months prior to the expiry of local representatives' tenure was against the constitution and hence void.
Nepali Congress lawmaker in the National Assembly Radhe Shyam Adhikari, who is also a senior advocate, said that the constitution's spirit was not to render local levels without government even for a day. He said the lawmakers took cognisance of the past incidents when deferring of local polls led to non-holding of polls for 13-14 years and incorporated safeguards in the Local Election Act stipulating that local polls shall be held two months before the expiry of the local governments' terms.
"The spirit of the provision is that when local elections are held two months prior to the expiry of the local government's term, handover and takeover of power is smooth,"
Adhikari said. He added that municipal assemblies were formed through indirect elections after direct elections were held. Adhikari said the spirit of the Supreme Court's decisions in the two House dissolution cases was that the House should be allowed to function till its full five-year term. "But if all parties want to go to polls, they could do so by passing a resolution in the House," he added.
UML leader Agni Prasad Kharel, who is also a senior advocate, said that Dahal, who feared defeat in local polls, had floated the idea of snap polls to delay local polls.
"We have been saying that this Parliament won't give any solution and that there should be fresh elections, but we won't accept any proposal to delay local polls," he added.
Kharel said Dahal floated the idea of early parliamentary polls because he feared that his party's defeat in local polls could spoil its prospects in parliamentary polls. He said his party would not oppose early parliamentary polls, but that should not be a reason to delay local polls.
Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel, who leads the ruling alliance mechanism, said the ruling alliance was scheduled to discuss Dahal's proposal today, but a meeting of the ruling alliance committee got postponed due to prime minister's busy schedule. "It will be appropriate to hold parliamentary polls before the local polls, but we are yet to discuss the issue in the alliance and reach a decision on that," he added.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
