By Our Reporter
Although the five ruling five parties have formally prepared bases for the electoral alliance and distribution of seats among them in the upcoming local polls, powerful Nepali Congress leaders in the centre and the popular leaders of local levels are against the alliance.
A meeting of the leaders of the ruling parties—Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha– held at the official residence of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Baluwatar Tuesday evening decided to forge an electoral alliance among the parties up to ward levels.
However, on the same day, all 29 ward committees of NC in Bharatpur decided to oppose the alliance. It is Bharatpur Metropolitan City where the ruling parties are finding it difficult to forge an alliance this time because NC local leaders are not ready to back the candidate of the Maoist Centre this time as in 2017.
When Maoist Centre wants to retain Bharatpur and local NC leaders object to the alliance, it has become difficult for NC leadership to maintain the alliance. Not only in Bharatpur, but in many places across the country the NC leaders and cadres are objecting to the alliance because the presence of the Maoist Centre and Unified Socialist in most of the districts is weak and the local NC leaders have to leave their seats for them.
Timely elections are still suspected
The local election is just 29 days away. But as the election date is nearing, the main opposition CPN-UML and others still suspect elections on May 13.
When the rumours were rife that the government was postponing local polls, CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli reportedly telephoned Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and inquired about the polls. In response, PM Deuba was quoted in the media that the election would be held at any cost.
Moves and comments by Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairman of the ruling CPN (Unified Socialist), that an environment for the participation of Netra Bikram Chand’s party in the election should have created confusion. As Chand’s party is not registered with the Election Commission, his party cannot contest the polls without providing time for the registration of his party and that is impossible without postponing the polls. As CPN (Unified Socialist), the breakaway faction of the UML is young and has not prepared organisation bases, it naturally wants to postpone the polls.
However, the EC had made all preparations and even printed ballot papers for 28 districts, and postponement of polls looks impossible. Even the ruling parties finalised the modality of alliance on Tuesday.
Yet there are arguments that Govinda Bandi, an advocate loyal to Nepal, was appointed Minister for Law and Justice for the postponement of the elections.
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