KATHMANDU: Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has reaffirmed that the Election Commission was determined and steadfast on conducting the second phase of local level elections scheduled for June 14, and was moving ahead accordingly.

The second phase of local elections is taking place for 461 local levels.

Speaking in a programme of discussions with the chiefs of the monitoring teams and the micro observers deployed in the first phase local polls on May 14 here today, CEC Yadav said, "We are proceeding ahead with the management of the second phase of local elections on June 14, without any kind of confusion, to have it accomplished in a free and fair manner."

He clarified that the Election Commission has not received official information regarding increment in the number of local level bodies, stating the election could not be held on the basis of the 'incomplete' report coming from the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.

"The Commission has forwarded the election management works focusing on the 461 local level bodies alone," the Chief Election Commissioner insisted.

Recalling that the EC, which had been earlier preparing for holding the election in a single phase at all the local levels of the country, had agreed on the June 14 election date so as to facilitate building an environment of political consensus, he shared that the election materials have also been managed for the election at the 461 local level bodies.

"The EC, taking a lesson from the previous election, is fully aware of and alert to any untoward activities in the second round of elections and is committed to preventing such incidents," he said.

He went on to say that though the second round of elections covered more territory than the first one, the EC was hopeful that the elections would be held in an easier way relatively of the previous one. He instructed the election observers to carry out assigned duty honestly and professionally.

The CEC, claiming that the first round of elections was concluded quite peacefully and in a systematic way which, according to him, was more than the expectation, praised the role of observers in the election.

The first round of the elections covered 283 local levels of 34 districts in province no. 3, 4 and 6. The government had deputed government secretaries, under-secretaries, section officers in various districts as election observers and micro-observers.

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