Though the government has announced that local elections will be held in November-December, leaders say there is a catch.

Several political and technical complexities need to be addressed first before the country holds local elections, they said. 

Without reaching a political settlement in the Tarai, the environment will not be conducive for holding polls in the region’s 20 districts, according to various leaders the Post spoke to. 

Madhes-based parties have already announced that they will not let local elections happen unless their demands are addressed—one of them is redrawing of provincial boundaries. 

 Even if a settlement is reached with the Madhes-based parties, a separate commission will be required in order to finalise the details, including number of provinces and their demarcation.  

As per the current constitutional provision, the country has seven provinces, but the Madhes-based parties have been seeking amendment to the provision, which is the major bone of contention between them and the ruling parties. The main opposition Nepali Congress has already said that local elections should be held only after finalising the number of federal units and demarcation. 

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba said that local polls are not possible until local bodies are restructured. 

As per the government announcement, it wants to hold local elections under the existing structure as an interim measure before federalism gets fully phased in. 

The government in the second week of March formed a local body restructuring commission under former secretary Balananda Poudel. It was set up in line with the constitutional provision of forming a commission to determine the number of village and municipal councils and their borders.

 The commission, however, is yet to start its work due various reasons. The commission has to submit is report by next March. 

NC leaders insist that local elections are not possible without a report from the commission. 

After the commission submits it report, the current structure of local bodies will be scrapped.  

Local elections can be held under transitional provisions as per the constitution, but the leaders say there is very little time to hold elections under the federal set-up given the fact that a federal parliament has to be in place by January 2018. 

“Local bodies are under the provinces. There are already disputes on the demarcation of provinces, so there is no meaning of holding local elections in the government-announced time,” said Sadbhawana Party leader Laxman Lal Karna.

National political issues should be addressed before going for local elections.” 

Even the ruling party UCPN (Maoist) has objected to the government plan of holding local elections under existing conditions. 

“Without finalising the federal structure, it is not possible to hold local elections,” said UCPN (M) Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha.