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Nepal votes on November 22
Struggling to come to terms with the winds of change, the Nepal's cabinet on Sunday finally decided to hold the election to the Constituent Assembly, reports Anirban Roy.
Nepal's future and the fate of King Gyanendra will be decided on November 22. Struggling to come to terms with the winds of change, the Nepal's cabinet on Sunday finally decided to hold the election to the Constituent Assembly.
Confirming the report, Industries and Commerce Minister Rajendra Mahto told the Hindustan Times that it is a step ahead in establishing "New Nepal".
The assembly is to rewrite the country's constitution and decide its future political system.
Mahto said the government on Monday would direct the Election Commission to do the needful for holding free and fair elections. "The Election Commission would finalise the calender for the process," he said.
The minister also said that the cabinet has also decided to finalise the process of delimitation of the 205 constituencies within three weeks.
"The government is committed to hold the election on this date," Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara was quoted as saying in media reports, adding it would work to try to improve the country's security situation in the run-up to the poll.
Speaker of the Interim legislature Parliament Subash Nemwang said the time has come for parties, organisations, journalists, intellectuals and other stakeholders to divert their activities towards successful polls.
Speaking at an interacting programme organised by the Working Journalist Association in the capital on Sunday, Nemwang said the interim parliament has prepared the foundation for holding constituent assembly polls. "Unity among all the political and non-political forces would make the polls successful," he said.
The eight parties in Nepal's ruling coalition agreed last month to hold elections in November for a Constituent Assembly but had not decided on a date.
The elections were initially scheduled for June but were postponed after election officials sought more time for technical preparations and for the government to pass new election laws.
