EC, party panel set to seek poll date today

KATHMANDU, MAR 28 -

The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to hold discussions on Thursday with members of a cross-party panel formed to clear constitutional and legal hurdles in holding elections.

Sources at the EC said the election commission ers and members of the cross-party taskforce will try to finalise key  electoral laws and look into the possibilities of holding fresh Constituent Assembly polls in June.

“The meeting will give us a picture of how we can move ahead,” EC Spokesperson Anil Kumar Thakur told the Post.

EC officials and taskforce members will talk EC-formulated electoral ordinances—Electoral Roll Act (2007), the Election Commission Act (2007) and the Constituent Assembly Act (2007)—and then decide on the date for the elections, EC officials said.

After the consultations, newly-appointed Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety will arrange for an all-party meeting where he will brief leaders on the preparations and possibilities of holding the polls in June, according to EC officials.

“The EC will then forward its suggestions to the government, while the government will move ahead accordingly,” a commissioner told the Post.

The government says it is “desperately waiting” for suggestions from the EC. “The government has already held preliminary discussions with the commissioners and will announce the poll date soon after the Commission comes up with its official position,” Minister for Information and Communications Madhav Poudel said.

The EC has laid out four major challenges in holding the polls in June—voter roll update, consensus among the parties, logistic management and limited time period. Completion of the voter roll update process is considered the most important issue. The Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist has obstructed the biometric voter registration drive in 16 districts so far.

The EC has prepared a 92-day election work plan to hold the polls. Even if the elections are held on June 21 as proposed by the taskforce, only 86 days now remain with the EC.

“While we have very little time, the list of tasks to be completed is too long,” Thakur said.

EC officials also say efforts to hold the polls in June could be hit if the CPN-Maoist’s campaign to disrupt poll activities is not looked into very soon.

In the absence of a broader political consensus, EC officials have, however, not spoken publicly on the possibilities of holding the elections in June.

“We cannot say anything for sure right away,” Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav told the Post.

Source: The Kathmandu Post