Majority of Nepali Congress (NC) leaders on Sunday expressed their disagreement with the Local Body Restructuring Commission’s proposal to carve out 565 local units across the country and urged the government to first initiate the process constitution amendment to deal with state demarcation to hold local elections

Speaking at a programme organised by the party, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba urged the stakeholders to take a practical approach while determining the number and boundaries of village and municipal councils. “The public should be taken into confidence first by providing feasible and easily available services through local bodies. Population and geography should be kept in mind,” said Deuba.

Claiming that he will not have any reservation if an agreement is reached to hold polls in the existing [local level] structure, Deuba stated that he would hold discussion on the matter with other political forces. Deuba also claimed that it was impossible to hold local polls without settling the demands of Madhesi and Janajati parties.

“Since we have to first amend the statute, the Congress as the largest party in Parliament will have to show flexibility for consensus on the matter,” said Deuba.

The NC is holding a two-day deliberation of party central committee members and district presidents to discuss restructuring of local bodies in order to make an official position of the party on the issue.

Senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel called for carving out village and municipal councils in such a way that the general public does not have to go through hassles while accessing services. “If we go for polls with the existing structure, elections are possible by November-December,” said Poudel.

An all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal last week had agreed to make efforts to find consensus on the issue of local body restructuring in 15 days. As per an understanding between the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the NC, the Dahal-led government will hold the local level elections in March and after that the NC will take the helm of the government to conduct provincial and federal elections. 

Speaking at Sunday’s programme, Krishna Prasad Sitaula expressed scepticism about the prospects of forming a new government under NC’s leadership in March.

“Since there are a lot of disagreements among political parties on the new structure, it seems very difficult to hold polls by February-March,” said Sitaula. Claiming that the Election Commission will need at least four months of preparation time to conduct polls, he urged political forces to come to consensus on the matter by November if “everyone is serious about the importance of local polls.”

Last month, two major coalition partners—the Maoist Centre and NC—had agreed on holding local body elections around March and decided in bringing other political forces on board before announcing the poll dates. The two parties also urged the Madhes-based parties and the UML to come to consensus on the timeframe for the elections.