While submitting the commission's annual report of the last fiscal year to President Bhandari on Monday, a team of the commission, led by officiating Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav, said that the election commission should be given the authority to fix election dates, which will create the basis for holding periodic elections in the country.
“Our team has asked the president to take the initiatives for forging consensus among political parties for providing the legal authority to the commission for fixing election dates as elections can be free and fair only if they are held within a given deadline,” said Ila Sharma, commissioner of the commission.
She also said that the commissioners also drew the president's attention on the urgency of holding election for local bodies. The last local elections were held in 1997.
“We have put forward a 5-point proposal to the president that will help make the election commission more effective. We have also asked her to grant financial autonomy to the commission,” said Sharma.
Likewise, the election commission also asked the president to take steps to help create a separate category in the civil service for recruiting employees for the election commission and its branch offices.
“Commission's staff must be specialized in the election-related activities. But, if officials get randomly transferred from the commission, it seriously hampers the overall activities of the commission,” said commissioner Sharma.
As per a press statement issued by the commission, Yadav also briefed the president about the initiatives being taken by the commission to reorganize the overall administrative and legal structure of the commission in line with the new constitution.
After hearing out the commission members, President Bhandari asked the commission to give top priority to adopting latest information technologies for making elections even more systematic, free and fair, said commissioner Sharma quoting the president.
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