Kathmandu, January 24:

A task force of the seven-party alliance today failed to reach a consensus to suggest a modality to revive the local bodies after the CPN-UML insisted that the 2054 BS local election be made the basis for revival of local bodies.

It may be recalled that seats in the interim parliament was distributed among parties on the basis of the 1999 general election, in which the NC got the highest number of seats while UML and the CPN-Maoist got equal seats.

“We could not reach any decision because UML insisted on reviving the local bodies on the basis of the 2054 BS local election,” Local Development Minister Dev Gurung, the coordinator of the task force, told this daily today.

Gurung claimed that the UML’s stance of reactivating the the local bodies on the basis of 2054 BS local election was against the spirit of the Interim Constitution and the agreement between the seven-party alliance and the Maoist.

There has been a sea change since the 2054 BS local election and it cannot be made any basis to reactivate the local bodies, he said. Gurung has proposed to run the local bodies through a joint mechanism of the seven-party alliance along with representation of other parties in the interim parliament as well.