CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY POLLS
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CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY POLLS
Date Debate
As leaders do nothing but repeat their commitment to hold the CA polls on time, the EC has been left in the lurch
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
The Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel is a very worried man these days. Frustrated at the lack of pace in the enactment of necessary legislations and preparations of groundwork by the government, Pokharel has been airing his comments from time to time.
But last week he broke his silence when he told the new ministers that mere decision by the government to hold the polls is not adequate.
Summoning all the ministers of the interim government at the office of Election Commission at Bahadur Bhawan, Pokharel advised against hasty announcement of polls without preparations.
He said that there was no adequate security and lack of preparations on essential prerequisites.
"Even our own offices are closed in some Terai districts," he said, adding that security was the number one prerequisite for holding free and fair polls.
In the wake of agreement among eight party leaders to hold the elections for the Constituent Assembly on June 20, chief election commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel said, "Let no one think about postponing election once its date is announced. That would send negative message across the world and hurt credibility."
Pokharel also said that the EC must be consulted when the government decides any date. Enlisting a number of matters that needed to be sorted out before the polls, Pokharel said there should be acts and rules in place; code of conduct should be ready; election procedure must be clearly determined; and there must be free, fair and fearless environment for conducting the polls before any date is announced.
However, despite his cautions, the government ministers present at the meeting repeated the rhetoric that polls will be held at any cost. "Preparations will be done on war footing to hold the polls on time," said Home Minister Krishna Sitaula.
Likewise, at the meeting between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chairman Prachanda, on Sunday (April 8), the two expressed commitment to hold the polls on June 20.
The UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal , on the other hand, has been making a numerous statements threatening that this government will lose all justifications if it fails to hold the polls on time. In the wake of reports that UNMIN chief Ian Martin said that hasty polls could lose credibility, Nepal urged the foreign diplomats not to comment on whether the CA elections can be held or not on time. "Elections will be conducted by the government. The Prime Minister has been expressing commitment to hold it by third week of June. It is not appropriate for diplomats to be speaking otherwise at this juncture," he said. He charged that UN, US and India were second guessing the poll prospects.
Even though the leaders have been expressing commitments, the crucial electoral legislation like CA Members Election Bill, Political Parties Bill and CA Court Bill still remain to be enacted.
Moreover, the unrest in Terai has not subsided as government presence has been shrinking in many southern areas. The armed groups like JTMM have continued their activities. They even abducted District Education Officer Nibhraj Joshi from Rajbiraj, Saptari last week.
Besides, there have been a couple of media reports that Martin told PM Koirala's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Dr. Suresh Chalise as well as Maoist chairman Prachanda that it is not "technically and politically feasible" to hold the CA polls on June 20.
Martin is said to have pointed at the need to resolve Terai and Janjati issues first to create conducive environment.
Clearly, the eight parties are in a real fix over the announcement of CA elections date. If they stick with June 20, then they will face an uphill task of completing the whole logistics and other procedures in next two months. If they want to postpone it, they will have to jump over the monsoon period as well as festival season and fix the date sometime in November.
This, perhaps, explains the Maoist leader's growing emphasis on passing the second amendment of constitution to have a provision whereby the interim parliament, itself can declare republic if the monarchy is found to be plotting to derail the CA polls. Once such a provision is incorporated in the constitution, the comrades may feel comfortable with even putting off the polls.
