Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Friday urged the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre), which are in the process to form a new government, to attach high priority to holding the election for federal parliament, warning that the failure to complete the task by December 2017 would create a dangerous constitutional vacuum.

Presenting cases of political uncertainty following the dissolution of parliament in 2002 and 2012, Oli reminded leaders of the largest and third largest parties that the new constitution requires a new federal parliament elected within the next 18 months. The existing Legislature-Parliament will automatically be dissolved after the period.

The NC and the Maoists have announced their plans to conduct the polls for the local bodies by March-April next year. As per the constitutional provision, all the three layers of election, including those for provincial assemblies, have to be held within the next one-and-a-half years.

PM Oli, who announced his resignation earlier this week, charged that there were designs to dissolve the House that would ultimately push the country to a political and constitutional crisis.

At a seminar on foreign policy organised by the Madan Bhandari Foundation in the Capital, Oli said, “Instead of holding the other elections, I urge the new government to hold the parliamentary polls on time.”

The Oli-led government had proposed holding local elections by December, also laying out a plan to conduct the remaining two polls within 2017. On government change, he charged that the “good” budget presented by his government had been intolerable for the rival parties.

CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal said all the political forces should stand together to safeguard the country’s independence, rather than being swayed by foreign forces that were trying to destabilise the country.

NC leader Sujata Koirala said although her party cadres were in favour of continuing with the Oli government, some forces were hell bent on toppling it. She praised the stance taken by Oli on nationality. Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha stressed the need for maintaining balanced relations with both India and China.