No one can stop local body polls: Nepal's CEC

Nepal's Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav today said that no force could stop the upcoming local body elections as all legal and managerial frameworks had been prepared for the polls which are being conducted after a gap of nearly two decades.

Talking to journalists here, Yadav said the Commission had been expediting preparations to hold the nationwide polls on May 14.

Last month, the Nepal government had decided to hold the much-delayed but crucial local body elections in May, the first such polls in two decades.

The local body elections have not been held for 20 years years due to the decade-long Maoist insurgency. It was last held in 1997.
 

Yadav said the works regarding the printing of voters' list had reached the final stage while ballot papers were being printed.

"The Commission has been carrying out technical tasks speedily," he said, adding that works relating to human resource management are also underway.

He said the Commission has directed the government to deploy staff for the polls in all local levels by March 16.

"The environment for polls is being gradually created," Yadav said and called all political parties to cooperate with the Commission to create a poll-conducive environment.

"All kinds of disagreements and dissatisfactions should be turned into consensus. The government and major parties should play important role for the same," he said.

Yadav hoped that the agitating Madhesi parties which had warned to boycott the polls would ultimately take part in them.

Madhesi parties have warned to boycott the local body polls as the government did not pay attention to amend the constitution for addressing their concern before announcing the poll date.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, had launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community. The protest had resulted in the death of at least 50 people.