Valley
PM: Counting of all votes together
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has floated a proposal of counting the ballots of both phases of local elections together.Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has floated a proposal of counting the ballots of both phases of local elections together.
In a meeting of the parties represented in Parliament, held at Baluwatar on Friday afternoon, the PM said the government would request the Election Commission to count all the ballots together after both phases of polling are over.
Dahal had listened to their views over the security of the ballots cast on May 14 until the next round of polling is over on June 14.
However, UML representatives and Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav urged the government to conduct the local elections in a single phase.
UML Chief Whip Bhanubhakta Dhakal said his party stands for holding the polls in a single phase. Even if they were to be conducted in two phases, the gap between the first and second rounds of polling should not be so long—one month as scheduled by the EC. Dhakal claimed that many of the leaders attending the meeting spoke for holding the elections at one go.
PM’s press adviser Govinda Acharya said there was no possibility of holding the polls in a single phase as the EC has already approved plans of the government to conduct the elections in two phases and that the election authority had been making preparations according to the latest decision.
Addressing the meeting, SSFN Chair Yadav said the local polls should be conducted in a single phase by deferring the May 14 vote. In the process, he added, citizens who are not on the voter list should be enlisted before the election.
According to Nepal Majdoor and Kisan Party leader Prem Suwal, the opposition leaders made it clear that there would be no problems if the government held the polls on May 14 in a single phase.
On the constitution amendment bill, PM Dahal said the government would try to prepare the proposal a document of national consensus. “However, if the government’s attempt fails, the proposal will be moved for the parliamentary process.”
At a time when the opposition parties have objected to presentation of the government’s annual budget between the polls, PM Dahal said necessary steps would be taken to introduce the fiscal estimates only after the second round of elections are over.