Kathmandu, May 30
The CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has said his party has not agreed with the government decision to postpone the second phase of local level elections till June 23.
Oli said the ruling parties rumoured that the UML agreed to defer the polls and clarified, “Let me speak loudly that the UML does not consent to such useless works.”
Addressing an assembly organised to celebrate the party’s victory in the local level elections in Kathmandu district, Oli said deciding to hold the polls during the monsoon was not a right decision.
The rainfall might make it difficult for voters to cast their votes and for election officials to protect the ballot papers, he worried.
However, the government did not think of people, Oli satirised, “Perhaps an astrologer said the day of June 23 would be good for the Maoists, hence they rescheduled the polls.”
Oli also criticised the government claiming it promoted nepotism in selecting winners of various awards and medals cannounced yesterday, on the occasion of Republic Day.
Pokharel’s similar statement
Meanwhile, the party’s General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel also issued a statement today to protest the government decision.
June 23 is the last Friday in the month of Ramadan and the Muslim community observes the Jumma-tul-Alwida festival on this day, so planning polls on the same day is against the sentiments of a secular state, Pokharal argued.
He demanded that the government show a needful sensitiveness towards such issues.
