Consultation for postponing local elections
By Our Reporter
Political parties in Nepal are expert in violating not only the spirit and value of the constitution but the constitution itself. When KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives twice last year even though the constitution explicitly does not give any rights to a majority Prime Minister to dissolve the House. But he did, and the President gave a nod to his every anti-constitutional act.
The political parties which rallied against the House dissolution finally replaced Oli after the Court termed the House dissolution as anti-constitutional, and Sher Bahadur Deuba is now leading the government of the five-party alliance. But they too are not different from Oli in terms of violating the constitution. The only difference is that while Oli wanted to hold the election of the parliament without letting it complete its full term of five years, the present coalition government led by Deuba wants to postpone the local polls even after the term of the local level representatives expires.
Now the ruling parties are busy exploring the loopholes in the Constitution to defer the local elections which should constitutionally have been held within mid-May.
They have already held a consultation with constitutional experts close to their parties, and as expected, they suggested postponing the local polls citing that some provisions of the Local Level Election Act contradict the Constitution.
Instead of telling the ruling parties to hold local polls in time, the constitutional law experts suggested amendments to the provisions of the Local Level Election Act-2073 that contradict the constitution.
In a discussion held at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official residence in Baluwatar on Sunday, they suggested amending the provisions of the Act that contravene the constitution.
They asked the government to make the Act compatible with the constitution by amending it.
They reminded that the Clause III of the Act was inconsistent with Article 225 of the constitution, and as per the constitution’s Article 1, the laws that are inconsistent with the constitution will be void. They made suggestions as per the expectations of the leaders of the ruling parties.
However, the exercise of the ruling parties to postpone the local election has drawn criticism from independent constitutional experts, the CPN-UML, and a chunk of the ruling Nepali Congress.
While CPN-UML chair KP Oli strongly criticised the exercise, NC popular leaders like Gagan Thapa have also opposed the move.
Deuba who had earned a bad name for not holding the local election in 2002 is likely to face criticism from within the party ranks and files for his unconstitutional move this time. Many NC leaders having a popular base in masses have argued that NC will be the biggest losers if the elections are deferred by going against the spirit of the constitution.
Obviously, Deuba is ready to postpone the local elections under the pressure of Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Kumar Nepal because the two communist parties are afraid of the elections as they have poor party organisation. Also, Dahal fears whether the NC will end the alliance after local polls because his party will be unable to win even a single seat if their candidates were not backed by NC. The situation of Madhav Kumar Nepal is also not different.
But a democratic party like NC should have agreed to postpone the election for the personal interest of a leader of another party.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has called the government to announce the date for the election of local levels at the earliest.
Issuing a press statement, Saligram Sharma Poudel, spokesperson at the Commission said, “It is evident that delay in declaration of election dates would make the management of holding the election procedure even more challenging.”
“Thus, we request the government to announce the polling dates as per Section 4 (1) of Local Level Election Act, 2017,” said spokesperson Poudel.
“The EC generally needs 120 days to ensure and the preparation and management for the election and preparations to collect voters’ list, review of voting centres and other works are being conducted, the Commission is in a ready position to complete the local level election by mid-May.”
The Commission clarified that delays in the election would create more technical challenges as per the Local Level Election Act, 2017. Earlier, the EC met with PM Deuba and others on the issue of holding local polls within May. Constitutionally, the term of all representatives of local levels expires on May 19.
Oli slams government
CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, who is home isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, has criticized the government for trying to postpone the local polls.
In a press statement, he warned warning the government for delaying the announcement of the dates of local polls.
He issued the statement after the five-party ruling alliance leaders said they had decided to hold three-tier polls – parliamentary, provincial, and local – simultaneously between mid-November and mid-March 2023.
Oli said his party was ready for elections anytime, but the government should not delay the local polls on any pretext.
Stating that the constitution did not envisage local level posts falling vacant, Oli said the ruling alliance was conspiring to delay local polls. He said ruling alliance leaders were misinterpreting provisions of Article 225 of the constitution, arguing that the provision meant that municipal and village assemblies – legislative bodies of local governments – should be formed within six months of the expiry of their tenure. Oli said his party would not tolerate any conspiracy to delay local polls.
He flayed the government for ‘entering into a quid pro quo deal’ with the judiciary.
He said his party had been obstructing parliamentary proceedings, but the Speaker was not paying any heed to the party’s demands.
He demanded that the government come clean on the status of 2.4 million COVID-19 vaccines that the Ministry of Health and Population said were unaccounted for.
Stating that prosecutors returned the investigation file of Lalita Niwas land grab case to the Central Investigation Bureau, Oli said the government was plotting to let the guilty go scot-free.
He said that the government had failed to create employment, provide relief to people affected by the COVID pandemic, or control price rise. He said the trade deficit rose to 57 per cent in the first five months after the Deuba government assumed office. He added that reduction in the foreign currency reserve was worrisome and in the first six months of the fiscal year, the government did not receive any foreign assistance. He said no big development project was launched in the past six months.
He said the government was not being able to protest against India’s unilateral road-building in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipulek areas.
He said the government made a mistake by forming a committee to investigate border issues with China through previous processes confirmed that there was no border dispute with China.
The government-formed committee has not released its report, thereby creating confusion, he said.
Oli said ruling coalition partners who had signed the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement with the USA made a juvenile move by forming a committee to study the MCC deal.
Oli claimed ruling alliance leaders were saying one thing to American authorities and something else to Nepali people.
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