Valley
Phase II local elections rescheduled for June 23
The government on Monday decided to hold the second phase of local elections on June 23 instead of June 14 as was earlier announced, in a bid to ensure agitating parties’ participation in the polls.The government on Monday decided to hold the second phase of local elections on June 23 instead of June 14 as was earlier announced, in a bid to ensure agitating parties’ participation in the polls.
The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N), a unified force of six Madhes-based parties, and some other agitating Janajati forces had been objecting to June 14 polls, saying their demands of constitution amendment and revision of number of local units and boundaries still remain unaddressed.
The RJP-N has long been demanding that the government increase the number of local units in Tarai districts on the basis of population.
A government bid to add 22 local units in 12 Tarai districts was blocked by the Supreme Court on Friday, saying that changing the number and boundaries of local units in the middle of two phases of elections was against the Local Level Election Act 2017. The government on Monday also decided to amend the Local Level Election Act to allow the RJP-N enough time to provide names and signatures of party officials to the Election Commission (EC) for its participation in the polls.
“The government decided to hold the second phase of local elections on June 23 to bring those parties which could not take part in the first phase of elections on board the poll process,” Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Karki said after Monday’s Cabinet meeting. According to Minister for Energy Janardan Sharma, the Cabinet also decided to request the Supreme Court to vacate its Friday’s interim order.