Setting Date For CA Polls

CHIEF Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel is back again on the centre stage of political and constitutional discussion as the onus of holding the polls to the Constituent Assembly is shifting to the mantle of the constitutional organ, following the 23-point agreement formalised by the Seven-party Alliance recently. It is in line with the responsibility and mandate of the Election Commission to demand that the political parties accelerate the process of finalising the constitutional and legal modus operandi according to the new agreement.

Needless to repeat, the alliance has agreed to increase the number of seats in the proportional representation mode of polling, which does naturally require adjustments and changes both in the interim constitution and law relating to the election of the members of the Constituent Assembly. If the experience from the past is anything to go by, it had taken months for the parties to devise and ratify the Constituent Assembly election law. The law makers had taken most of their time in discussing and finalising the criteria for distribution and reservation of seats to the different marginalised and disadvantaged groups, including the women. However, as a framework has already been laid down in the statute, not much time should be spent by the lawmakers to arrive at a conclusion for appropriating the reserved seats to the marginalised and disadvantaged groups that have been already identified by the law.

However, should the political stakeholders repeat the previous tendencies of raking up one issue after another, it might take more time than anticipated to finalise the relevant legal instruments. This will affect the entire process of setting schedules for the polls to the Constituent Assembly. As said by the Election Commissioner, the constitutional body needs at least 90 days to complete all the procedures in the run up to the election to the Constituent Assembly. Though several other corollary instruments and guidelines have been in place, the most important law setting forth the process of electing the members of the Constituent Assembly needs to be revised, taking the new changes and amendments into account. As emphasised by the Chief Election Commissioner, the government should waste no time in ensuring that the date for the Constituent Assembly polls is announced soon and the necessary legislative instruments are ratified.

Source: The Rising Nepal, December 27, 2007