Cabinet assesses municipal polls, upbeat about national election: Report

The government has concluded that it will be able to hold parliamentary elections expected next year on the basis of the experience of holding elections in 36 municipalities this week, a newspaper report said on Friday.

“After assessing the municipal polls, we have come to the conclusion that elections for the House of Representatives expected next year is possible,” Rajdhani daily quoted a cabinet member as saying after a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the royal palace on Thursday.

“They (political parties) failed to disrupt the municipal polls even after taking refuge with the Maoists. This also led us to come to the conclusion that we can conduct national elections,” he added

The government has been reading the holding of the polls in an upbeat note. The paper also quoted a cabinet source as saying that the meeting of the cabinet chaired by the king also unanimously concluded that the government was able to hold the 8 February local polls in free and fair manner.

Shrish Shumsher Rana (File Photo)

However, there is no official word on it yet. State minister for information and communication Shrish Shumsher Rana informed that the government was going to make its stand public on the current state of affairs soon. “We will also be speaking on our conclusion (regarding municipal polls),” Rana, who is also the spokesperson of the government, said.

Nearly 20 percent of the eligible 1.4 million voters took part in the municipal polls despite the call of seven party alliance to actively boycott it and the Maoists’ threats to disrupt it and took action against those associated with the municipal election. nepalnews.com pb/kk Feb 10 06