Despite opposition from Election Commission, the government has decided to postpone the elections for Province No 2 in third round on September 18. It will be held in October.  However, the government decided to continue the second round of elections in 1,5,7 province.

The government proposes the third phase of elections on 18 September in Province no 2.

Earlier, the meeting of  the top leaders of three political parties Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Maoist Center agreed to postpone the elections of  No 2 province given the violent activities and problems of law and order. The leaders also agreed to postpone two days the date for the nomination of candidates.

The final agreement to postpone the elections in province No 2 was made in a meeting of Nepali Congress, Maoist-Center and Rastriya Janta Party Nepal.

 “We have suggested government leaders to postpone the elections in province 2 and 5 till the amendment of the constitution and increased the number of local bodies on the basis of population,” said Mahendra Raya Yadav. “The ball is in the court of the government.”

In earlier meeting, the Election Commission has urged the government and the political parties to remain steadfast on the second phase of local elections scheduled for June 28.

The EC officials made this suggestion during the discussions held with leaders including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar.

 “The Election Commission has urged for moving ahead committed for the June 28 election,” he added. Stating that one or the other difficulties might occur while carrying out any election, the Chief Election Commissioner reiterated that there was no confusion regarding the election as the Ministry of Home Affairs has guaranteed full security for the election.

CEC Yadav said, “We are moving forward regarding the filing of nomination papers tomorrow for the June 28 polls, with the determination to fulfilling the election responsibility while relying on the means and resources and the guarantee of security provided by the government for election purpose,” said Yadav.

On the occasion, the Election Commission officials had informed the government and parties’ leaders on all aspects of the preparations being made for the election, and to this, the government and the ruling partners had thanked the commission.

Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel, general secretary Shashanka Koirala and leaders Bimalendra Nidhi and Krishna Prasad Sitaula, and CPN Maoist Centre leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Pampha Bhusal, Matrika Yadav and Home Minister Janardan Sharma participated in the discussions.