PM assures Nepalese people of holding local body polls on time

Prime Minister Prachanda today assured Nepalese people that the local body elections would be held within the deadline as he visited the Election Commission and learnt about the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), indicating that Nepal may introduce it in the upcoming polls.
"Acts related to elections have been passed and the government has been preparing for the election," Dahal said speaking at a programme here organised by Election Commission about the use of electronic voting machine.
"The elections must be held and let's not doubt about it," he told the gathering.
He said the Nepali people have become smart enough to vote electronically. "If they can use mobile phones in rural villages, why can they not use voting machines?"

"It would be wrong to assume that Nepali won't be able to use the electronic voting machine," he said.
Stating that the voting education should be made effective, Dahal said using the electronic voting machines would be a piece of cake for the people who carry cell-phones.

Local body elections could not be held for more than 16 years, mainly due to the decade long Maoist insurgency that claimed 16000 lives.
Electronic Voting Machine was used on trial basis at a few places during the last Constituent Assembly elections held in 2013.
At the programme, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said the electronic voting machine would make the election fair, transparent, speedy and cost-effective.

He said the EC is ready to implement the decision made by the government and Legislature-Parliament in this regard.
During the programme representatives of political parties were briefed about the electronic voting machines.