KATHMANDU, Jan 27: A parliamentary panel has forged an understanding to revise the Local Level Election Bill with a provision for holding local polls a month before the expiry of term of the elected body.
Addressing the demands lawmakers made for amendment proposals and the views they expressed during deliberations on the bill at the House meetings, a sub-committee under the State Affairs Committee (SAC) forged an understanding over the issue on Thursday.
According to multiple members of the sub-committee, the bill is likely to be finalized on Friday with the inclusion of the new provision. The original bill registered by the government had mentioned that local polls would be held only after the expiry of term of the elected body.
MPs demand local polls a month before term end
Article 225 of the new constitution has a mandatory provision on concluding local polls within six months of the expiry of term of the elected body.
“Due to the lack of clear provisions in the law, local bodies in the country remained vacant for more than 16 years. Given this background we have agreed to conduct the local polls one month before expiry of the term,” said CPN-UML lawmaker Rameshwar Phuyal.
NC lawmaker Ram Krishna Yadav, who is also a member of the sub-committee, informed that the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has also agreed to revise the bill with inclusion the new provision, with a view to maintaining continuity in local governance. “The sub-committee will submit the report to the SAC on Friday. We have agreed to a provision that would help avoid leaving the local bodies without popular representatives for long periods as now,” said Yadav.
CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker on the committee Shantu Darai said that the sub-committee is likely to finalize the revision of the bill on Friday.
Lawmakers on the sub-committee have informed that they have unanimously decided to remove a provision in the bill which had proposed allowing a number of political parties to contest elections under a common election symbol.
“We have unanimously decided to remove the provision as it may result in the forging of unnatural alliances, contrary to the spirit of democratic values,” said Phuyal.
Registering an amendment proposal on the Local Level Election Bill, a number of lawmakers had demanded concluding elections at the local level one month before the expiry of term of the elected body. Likewise, lawmakers from major political parties had also suggested fixing the date in the bill itself for holding local polls at intervals of every five years. The sub-committee on Thursday unanimously endorsed the Election Offence and Punishment Bill. According to Yadav, the bill is likely to be tabled in the House for endorsement on Friday.
