KATHMANDU, March 3: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered the government to furnish a written statement about the government's preparations for holding all three tiers of elections by January 21, 2018 in line with the provisions of the new constitution.

Responding to a writ petition filed by Advocate Chandra Kanta Gyawali and others, a division bench of Justices Hari Krishna Karki and Anil Sinha asked the government to inform the court about the progress toward meeting the obligatory constitutional provision.

Gyawali had filed a writ petition at the apex court claiming that the government had not been making preparations for holding the elections of all three tiers- local, provincial and federal- by January 21.

The court has asked the government to respond within 10 days. Earlier, in a ruling in a separate writ petition filed by Gyawali, the apex court had reminded the government about the deadline set by the constitution for holding the elections.

Earlier, the apex court ruled on February 21 that it was constitutionally mandatory to hold all three tiers of elections within the stipulated date of January 21, 2018. The ruling stated that the elections must be held and the elected structures put in place well before January 21, 2018, as the transformed parliament will automatically dissolve after the deadline. The ruling also stated categorically  that seeking any alternative to holding the polls within the stipulated deadline would be dishonesty and a betrayal.

 
• supreme court
 
• written report
 
• local poll preparations