Kathmandu, July 29

The Parliament will send two bills — bill relating to provincial elections and bill relating to House of Representatives elections — to the State Affairs Committee of the Parliament tomorrow.

A source at the Parliament Secretariat said the bills would be sent to the relevant House panel tomorrow if the tentative business schedule was not changed by the Business Advisory Committee.

CPN-UML lawmaker Rameshwar Phuyal said since a large number of amendment proposals had been registered on these two bills, they must be discussed in the relevant House panel.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Ananda Prasad Dhungana said it might take the SAC some time to discuss the bill relating to provincial elections as it was related to issues of federalism. “We will have to work day and night to pass these bills,” he said, adding that if the SAC expedited the bill, it could finalise its report in two weeks.

Dhungana said the government was serious about expediting the passage of these two bills and they would be prioritised.

CPN-UML Chief Whip Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal said the government had deliberately delayed registration of the bill to insert provisions suiting the interests of ruling parties. He, however, said fast-track process could not be adopted on such bills as they would entail intense discussion in the House panel.

The Election Commission wants these bills passed at least 120 days before elections. The EC had suggested that the government hold provincial and parliamentary polls before mid-November. EC Spokesperson Surya Prasad Sharma told THT that the EC had already told the government it needed election related laws enacted 120 days before elections and if the government failed to ensure passage of the bills by mid- August, it could pose problems. “We have to hold elections before mid-November or else we cannot hold elections in eight mountain districts where its snows after mid-November,” he added.

As per constitutional provisions, all types of elections need to be held before January 21.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak told THT the government was trying to hold both provincial and parliamentary elections simultaneously. “Even if the enactment of the two election related bills is delayed, it will not make a big  difference because the government wants to hold both elections simultaneously,” Lekhak said, adding that if both elections were held together, that could save the country billions of rupees.

A source at the Parliament Secretariat said the House needed to send these two bills to the relevant panel because there were 35 amendment proposals on the bill relating to provincial elections and 42 amendment proposals on the bill relating to parliamentary elections.

Many lawmakers who moved amendment proposals have demanded provisions for right to recall in these two bills.

Some amendment seekers have demanded provision for proportional representation under the first-past-the-post electoral system as well and the date of parliamentary elections stated in the bill. Some amendment proposals sought five per cent threshold for parties to have representation in the House of Representatives.

Amendment proposals have also demanded that the government provide fund to political parties on the basis of their performance in the last general elections.

The fringe parties have objected to the threshold provision in the bill relating to parliamentary elections.