The government is preparing to amend the provisions of the Local Level Election Act and the Local Government Operation Act to postpone the local elections. Some articles are being amended with the argument that they are in conflict with the constitution and some of them are against the constitution.

Attorney General Khamma Bahadur Khati said that Article 3 (1) of the Local Level Election Act-2073 BS will be repealed. The article states that the election of members will take place two months before the end of the term of the village municipality. He argues that this provision is in conflict with Article 225 of the Constitution as well as 215 (6), 216 (6) and 220 (5). “The constitution stipulates that the term of office of local people’s representatives is five years from the date of the election, but the act stipulates that elections should be held two months in advance,” he said.

Section 4 of the Act will be amended, said the Attorney General. The article states that the government may hold elections in two or more phases, but the date of the first phase shall be deemed to have been completed. According to the provisions of the Act, the term of a people’s representative elected in the third phase ends four months in advance.

Attorney General Khati said that discussions are underway to amend the law so that elections can be held in one phase. “The five-year term stipulated in the constitution is incomplete for some people’s representatives as the election is being held in phases, so the law needs to be amended to bring uniformity in the tenure,” he said. It is against the principle of justice. ”He said that local elections would be more confusing if a people’s representative went to court saying that he was deprived of services with his term remaining.

The government has tried to amend section 55 of the same act. In the said article, it is mentioned that if the election is held before the expiration of the term of the village-municipal council, the newly elected member shall be deemed to have been elected on the day after the expiration of the term of the existing member. In the first election after the enactment of the Act, the newly elected members are said to have been elected on the seventh day of the first phase. According to the said article, the term of 753 local level people’s representatives will end on Jestha 5 2079 BS. “It is not clear in the constitution and the act how the local executive will operate after the expiration of its term,” said Attorney General Khati.

The government is preparing to hold local elections in mid-November. According to the existing law, local level executives will be without leadership till then. The Attorney General’s Office informed that the amendment of Article 115 of the Local Government Operation Act-2074 BS has been prepared to fill this vacancy. It is mentioned in the said article that except for the clear provision that the assembly (village-municipal council) will do, the work to be done by the village municipality and municipality will be done by the executive. Even legal practitioners close to the government have suggested that the village and municipal councils (legislature) should be provided in the law in a ‘temporary’ manner until the new leadership is elected.

Senior Advocate Raman Shrestha said that the term of the executive could be temporarily extended till the election by amending the law but the five-year term guaranteed in the constitution could not be taken away by the government, election commission or any law. “After the term of the legislature (parliament) expires in the state and federal executive, there is a provision for the same executive to operate temporarily until the next election,” he said. Therefore, the state of political emptiness should not be allowed to come by amending the law. ‘

Government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had said that the process of amending the law would be taken forward as per the spirit of the constitution after a discussion with legal experts on Sunday. “There is no question of postponing the elections at any level,” he said.