KATHMANDU, July 6: The Election Commission (EC) is planning to propose to the government to hold the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections on November 18. The EC is proposing to hold the election of federal parliament and provincial assembly members simultaneously on the same date. Sources familiar with the development said the election body will also propose November 21 for the election as an alternative date.

The EC has prepared the proposal to the government to hold the election no later than the second week of November. The election body is preparing to write to the government with the option of holding the election either on November 18 or November 21. 

As per the existing legal provisions, the EC cannot set an election date on its own. So, it proposes to the government a suitable date for holding the elections.

There is a legal provision for the government to announce the date on that basis. The EC officials were scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday and propose an election date, but the meeting was rescheduled for Wednesday due to Prime Minister Deuba's busy schedule, a source at the EC said.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya and other officials are scheduled to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Deuba on Wednesday. EC officials had earlier met Prime Minister Deuba and held discussions with him. At that time, it was proposed to fix the date on November 16 or in the second week of November.

Stating that it will not be technically easy to hold the election after November 21, the EC has suggested holding the election in one go. Last Friday, Prime Minister Deuba and Chief Election Commissioner Thapaliya had a discussion on the issue.

During the discussion, Prime Minister Deuba had urged Thapaliya to propose an election date. The EC then held discussions about the possible election date with chiefs of security agencies.

 
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