While the Election Commission has been pressing the government to clear the legal hurdles to holding the polls four months before the date, finalisation of the election-related laws will take at least a month. This leaves hardly three months for the commission to prepare for the local elections the government has planned for April next year.

The State Affairs Committee (SAC) of Parliament, after holding three election-related bills for more than two months, formed a subcommittee on Thursday to resolve the disputes within 15 days.

The 11-member taskforce will submit its report to the main committee after sorting the contentious issues, mainly the threshold of votes for representation, state funding for the political parties, minimum age of voters, giving the EC the authority to announce the election date, and the number of signatures required to register a party.

The sub-panel will also have to find consensus on 67 amendments registered by lawmakers affiliated to the various parties. While the major parties are for imposing the threshold, fringe and Madhesi parties are against the provision. Finding a meeting point on the threshold is a major challenge for the subcommittee. Given the intensity of contention, it is unlikely that the team will find a solution on the issue.

“I am hopeful the subcommittee will find consensus on the disputed issues. If that does not happen, the main committee will take a further call,” said Dil Bahadur Gharti, the SAC chairman. The subcommittee’s deadline expires on January 5. Even if the team sorts all the issues, it will take at least one week for the suggestions to be endorsed by Parliament. This means the three bills will not get the House nod before mid-January. This gives the EC only three months to work on an April election. In addition, two more election-related bills are pending in Parliament.

The Bill on Local Level Elections and Bill to Amend and Integrate Prevailing Laws on Election Offences and Punishment have to tabled for theoretical discussion in the House, following which 72 hours is given to register amendments on them. The bills are then sent to the SAC for finalisation before being forwarded to the House. The entire process will take a month if everything goes smoothly. But with the opposition unlikely to lift the House obstruction soon without a major deal, it is possible that the process could be lengthier.

The EC has already clarified that the local elections must be held by April-end to spare any chance for the provincial, National Assembly and the federal Parliament elections to be held before the tenure of the current Parliament expires on January 21, 2018.