Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) has decided to resume all the projects under the Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme (CISP) and Constituency Development Programme (CDP) that were halted after the directives from the Election Commission in October, last year.

The Ministry after consultation with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on Dec 30 directed all District Technical Offices to implement the projects selected by the lawmakers by October 14 a day prior to the tenure of Parliament came to an end. The EC on October 29 had asked the government to cancel all the projects meant for the then lawmakers.

The Commission had stopped the project arguing that election code of conduct bars from carrying out any activities that could influence the voters we have directed the government to stop the projects until the completion of the elections. The poll code, which came into force on August 30, prevents the government from introducing and implementing new projects. It had also argued that the as the projects were meant for the incumbent lawmaker it was not justifiable to allow retiring lawmakers from selecting the projects.

The MoFALD however, has argued that as the lawmakers had not retired till October 14 it was justifiable to implement the projects selected within the date as per the Rule 3 of Working Procedure of CPD. “The procedure doesn’t stop from implementing the projects within a year since their selection even if the Legislature-Parliament doesn’t exist,” reads the MoFALD statement issued asking its subordinate bodies to implement the projects.

As the term of the Legislature-Parliament ended as per Article 296 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal, the retired lawmakers cannot implement the programmes meant for the incumbent parliamentarians, the EC said. The Cabinet on September 6 amended the CISP (Operation Working Procedure) Regulation and CDP (Operation Working Procedure) Regulation, setting a deadline of October 17 for the lawmakers to submit the projects to be implemented under these two programmes to the District Technical Offices.

A total of Rs 10 billion was allocated under the two programmes, where Rs30 million has been released for each constituency to implement projects under the CISP and Rs 5 million each to lawmakers to implement projects under the CDP. Though both the projects are meant to be selected and implemented by the lawmakers the MoFALD’s has argued that it’s not necessary for the House to exist as no law bars from implementing the projects within a year since they were selected.