Government pushing threshold included CA election ordinance: Minister
KATHMANDU: While lead political parties are still confronting each other over the inclusion of threshold regulations in CA elections, Nepal’s bureaucratic government has said that it is planning to include threshold laws in the CA election ordinance.
Speaking at an interaction program organized by Reporters Club Nepal on Monday, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation Chhabi Raj Panta said that government is planning to include threshold laws in the CA ordinance, soon to presented to the President for endorsement.
Panta said that if the laws are not agreed between political parties the government will include laws by referring to those adopted in the erstwhile elections.
” We are already late in preparing laws for CA elections,” Minister Panta said adding, “we will present the ordinance by including threshold laws if political parties fail to reach consensus on the issue at the earliest.”
He claimed that provisions of implementing threshold laws were universal practice and said any political party that brings one percentage of the votes will have representation in the CA.
Stating that the ordinance is almost complete, the Minister said that a date for CA elections will be announced by the end of this week, while speaking at the program presided by Reporters Club Nepal’s President Rishi Dhamala.
Referring to the protests made by some political parties against the CA elections, the Minister said that CA elections will be held at any cost and expressed optimism that even the dissenting parties will contend in the CA elections.
Speaking in the same program, Election Commission Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said that the Commission had been preparing to hold CA elections in November. Stressing on the need to bring CA election ordinance to remove any discrepancies in making the preparations, Yadav also called on the government to provide human resources and a date for the CA elections.
Referring to the debate on making provisions of the threshold regulations, Yadav said the EC was ready to hold elections without regards to the threshold laws and said that the decision should be made by political parties.
However, Nepali Congress leader Dr Narayan Khadka warned that his party will look out for alternative if it failed to create conducive environment for CA elections.
Expressing doubts on the present government’s capacity to hold CA elections, Khadka said his party is committed to hold CA elections at any cost even by forming a new government.
CPN UML leader Agni Kharel, on the occasion, said that his party would not remove threshold laws from the CA election ordinance at any cost. Stating that threshold debate is being raged by Maoist and its allies to disrupt the CA elections, Kharel said that the Maoist and Madheshi Morcha alliance are not in intention to hold CA elections.