Nepal: No plan to postpone polls, say Nepali Congress

Kathmandu, Oct 12: The ruling Nepali Congress leaders have asserted that there were no plans whatesover to postpone the federal and provincial elections in the country. A left electoral alliance forged by two major communist forces had triggered the speculation that the government was attempting to postpone the elections. Though the government ministers and Nepali Congress (NC) leaders have said that there was no plan to postpone the federal and provincial polls scheduled for November 26 and December 7, there have been talks within the NC about postponing the date for filing nominations for the First-Past-the-Post candidates, The Kathmandu Post reported on Thursday. The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) has already made public the election calendar as per which FPTP nominations have to be filed on October 22. Some NC leaders are of the view that due to the Tihar festival, which will be observed on October 19-21, there is little time for preparations; hence the nomination filing date should be postponed by a few days. Some believe the ruling NC is struggling to cobble together an effective coalition what it calls a “broader democratic alliance” with “like-minded forces” to counter a left electoral alliance forged by the UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and Naya Shakti Nepal and wants to buy time, as it fears the left forces together could sweep the elections. A day after the leftist forces announced their alliance, the NC on October 4 took initiatives to bring the “like-minded forces” into its fold to form its ‘democratic alliance’. The EC was quick to respond, saying on October 6 that the ongoing alliance formation processes could hamper the scheduled polls. On Tuesday also Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav requested the government not to take “any unpleasant decisions” that could affect the scheduled polls. UNI