The parliamentary panel will direct the Ministry of Local Development to go for an interim election for local bodies, at its next meeting slated for January 19, as the minister concerned was not present during Thursday´s meeting, according to committee Chairman Jitendra Sonal.[break]
“The only way to address various problems, including corruption at the local bodies, is interim elections for those bodies. The next meeting of our committee scheduled for January 19 will take a decision to that effect,” said Sonal.
Speaking during the committee meeting, all 16 lawmakers present unanimously pointed out the need for immediately holding an interim election, arguing that the absence of the all-party mechanisms had given further rise to corruption. “All lawmakers have shared a similar opinion about interim elections. The ministry is fully prepared for such elections,” said Secretary at the Local Development Ministry Sheetal Babu Regmi, who was present at the meeting.
Secretary Regmi said the ministry has been holding consultations with the Election Commission on elections for local bodies and the Commission said it could hold the elections within three months.
Local bodies have remained vacant after the Supreme Court and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority directed to scrap the all-party mechanisms, arguing that there was massive corruption.
Though the Local Development Ministry had earlier floated the idea of reconstituting the local bodies on the basis of the percentage of votes received by each political party during the Constituent Assembly elections held in April 2008, lawmakers argued that interim elections would be the best option.
UML lawmaker on the committee Yam Lal Kandel said it was not a good idea to allocate seats on the basis of percentage of votes received in the CA polls. “Whether or not the government holds an election is a different matter, but the parliamentary committee cannot shy away from its responsibility,” he said.
Lawmakers argued that since it will take at least five years to hold local level elections after drafting a new constitution it was not a good idea to leave the local bodies without representatives for such a long period. “It is a good idea to even stop sending budgets to the local bodies until there is an election. It does not make sense to send money to the villages if it is not going to be utilized properly,” argued lawmaker Rashmi Raj Nepali of Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal.
He further argued that the problem had cropped up as the local bodies were not reinstated along with the reinstatement of parliament following Janandolan II in 2006.
Another UML lawmaker, Krishna Prasad Sapkota, said that corruption that is rife at local levels of government cannot be checked through the all-party mechanisms or any other ad hoc arrangement. “We cannot guarantee that civil servants will be any better just because the political party leaders were involved in corruption. The only alternative is to hold an interim election,” he argued.
He alleged that district development officers, executive directors of municipalities and VDC secretaries had been involved in rampant corruption.
Former local development minister and NC lawmaker Purna Kumar Sherma also argued that interim elections could be the best way to address the corruption problem. He also shared his experience of corruption at local bodies during his term as minister.
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