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