The Election Commission has proposed the government to hold the local level elections on April 27, 2022.
In a meeting with the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other ministers held in Baluwatar on Friday, election commissioners have proposed to hold all local elections on April 27 next year.
Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said that it would be appropriate to hold all local elections on the same day as this would be cost-effective, easy in terms of security management and overall election management, bring uniformity in voter education materials and the election results in one place would not affect the other.
If for some reason it is not possible to hold the election on the same day, the second phase poll could be held on May 5, the EC said.
In response, Prime Minister Deuba said the government would move ahead with the EC’s proposal after consulting with the political parties.
The term of office of local level officials is coming to an end on May 19. According to the existing legal provisions, the existing seats of local representatives will fall vacant after May 19, for which the election management body has to hold an election.
According to Article 225 of the Constitution, elections must be held within six months of the end of the term, so that new ones can replace them.
As there is no clear legal provision regarding the operation of the local level after the expiration of the term, the EC has proposed to hold the election two months before the end of the term as per the Section 3 of the Local Level Election Act, 2016, the Election Commission said in its statement.
The EC has stated that it needs 120 days to prepare for the election.
During the meeting, election commissioners also proposed to use voting machines in local level elections.
In response, Prime Minister Deuba said that consensus of political parties should be sought and voting machines would be used in certain constituencies even if not in all constituencies.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, EC Spokesperson Saligram Sharma Poudel said during the meeting, election commissioners also briefed Prime Minister Deuba and other ministers about the National Assembly election to be held on January 26, ongoing voters’ registration campaign and election security and budget.
According to the Election Commission, a total of 577,669 voters have been added to the voter list till December 24. This campaign will end on January 3, 2022.
Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, Minister for Information and Communication Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Minister for Law, Justice and Federal Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu and secretaries of Home Ministry and Finance Ministry were present at the meeting.
Source : TRN,
