CONTROVERSIAL PLAN
The Kathmandu Post
13 May 2016
CONTROVERSIAL PLAN
It seems that that there must be some
clandestine political agenda for the Oli led government to announce that the
local polls will be held by December. Otherwise, given the current political
mess in the country, it does not seem possible by any means to hold local election
by December. However, for many good reasons, it is now imperative to hold this
election rather than to keep postponing it for indefinite period. It has not been
held for several years. Had it been held earlier, rehabilitation and reconstruction
programmes in quake affected areas could have been properly implemented and the
development budgets allocated for VDC based projects would also have been
appropriately utilised thereby benefiting thousands of local people. The Commission
for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has been repeatedly claiming
that millions of rupees of development budgets have been grossly misutilised by
the representatives of the all party mechanism that is in place in each VDC.
Holding this election in December requires
a number of political, constitutional and technical hurdles to be sorted out (“Local
polls by December? Leaders say there’s a catch” 11 May, Page 1). Is it
possible now to sort out these hurdles within this short period of time? The
Madhes based parties continue to demand that there be no local polls unless new
demarcations of provincial boundaries are drawn. The Nepali Congress has
clearly said that this poll is not possible until local bodies are restructured
in accordance with the federal structure. Even the ruling party UCPN (Maoist)
has objected to the government’s plan of holding the polls under the existing
condition. The government itself had formed a local body restructuring
commission with one year mandate to work on it and submit a report. It is yet
to start its work. Is the government not aware of these facts?
Having said these, there can be a possibility
to hold local polls under transitional provisions only if all the political
parties come to a consensus. However, is it genuinely necessary now? Why does
the government in consultation with the major political parties and the Madhes
based parties not lay down a timetable showing all the necessary steps to be taken
before holding this poll rather than announcing the time without any homework? However,
if the government is still committed to hold the polls by December, it should go
ahead and do it without making any political excuses.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharjgunj
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2016-05-13/voice-of-the-people-20160513083105.html
