UML Chair Oli insists on timely local level election

KATHMANDU, Jan 23: CPN (UML) Chair KP Sharma Oli has called for holding the local level election within the period fixed by the Constitution. Issuing a press release on contemporary political issues today, the Chairperson of the main opposition party in parliament said that the ruling coalition has brought a proposal of holding the election to the House of Representatives in coming Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May), which is likely to increase political confusion. Recalling that there were demonstrations and protests in the streets last year when he proposed for taking fresh mandate of the people, he urged those talking of 'early election' now to apologize for the last year's protest demonstrations. "The Constitution of Nepal does not envisage the local level posts falling vacant. Therefore, the deferral of the local level election in any pretext is not acceptable to us," the press release stated. Former Prime Minister Oli alleged that the ruling alliance was scheming to postpone the election in contravention of the spirit of the Constitution and the laws that the election of the local level should be held two months before the expiry of the term. The 15-point press release issued by the UML Chair states that serious imbalance and deviation has been seen in the nation's external relations, that the government has covered up the true statistics related to the economy and that it has not paid attention to the issues raised in parliament by the UML.   Chair Oli has called for providing risk allowance to the civil servants mobilizing at the forefront in the fight against COPVID-19, to provide vaccination against the Coronavirus infection to all as per the commitment, to make public the status of the 2.4 million vaccines said to be missing and not to let off the culprits of the Lalita Niwas land scam. The UML has, through the press release, demanded to immediately provide relief to the farmers whose rice crop was destroyed by the unseasonal rains, to settle the conflict period cases at the earliest and also to sack the Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Renu Kumari Yadav from her post for making an irresponsible and illegal statement threatening manslaughter.  Oli, who had planned to convene a press conference at the party office today, had to resort to press release as he was infected with COVID-19.