Three days after the government announced to hold local polls by December, Election Commission (EC) officials, the body responsible for organising elections, have insisted polls can only be possible provided that government and Parliament expedite approval of laws, and create political environment for it.

But EC officials expressed skepticism that the government was actually committed to holding polls.

The Election Commission has already drafted the bill more than a year ago with a provision to have 50 percent women candidacy in the local bodies. However, the government has not yet tabled the bill in Parliament which needs to be approved by a majority before coming into the effect.

“That begs a question why the government has not approved the Local Bodies Autonomy Act and Local Bodies Election Procedure Act so far if it, in fact, was committed,” a senior EC official to the Post, requesting anonymity.

According to a general practice, the government has to consult the Election Commission after forging political consensus prior to fixing the date for the election. However, the incumbent government through its policies and programmes announced to hold the local election in the month of November/December without any consultation with the commision.

Asked if the government sought the suggestion from the commission before announcing the date, EC Spokesperson Ila Sharma said she had no notice regarding the issue. “I don’t think there was any prior consultation from the government regarding the poll date for the local election,” she said. Sharma, however, said that the EC is capable of holding the election if all the legal hurdles are cleared four months prior to the date of the election. This means that the government has to endorse the Act by the month of July to hold the election in November/ December.

The government’s announcement to hold the local election has been criticized by the main opposition Nepali Congress and even its coalition partner UCPN (Maoist), who ruled out the possibility of the election before the restructuring of local bodies.

According to the EC officials, the government should first provide assurance of peace and security in the country as there is a great legacy of violence-free election in the country.

Similarly, the commission should be assured that all the technical factors, like infrastructure, weather and other logistics are in place before declaring the date so that the election can be conducted in one package though there could be two or more phases, said the official.