DHANUSHA CLOSED DOWN Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: Madhesh Kranti Forum Nepal, District committee has called Danusha district banda on Friday, RSS reports from Dhanusha. The group called the district banda after the District Development Committee (DDC) Employees´ Union, Dhanusha , and VDC Secretary Rights Protection Center announced a strike in VDCs and the DDC following the dispute while they were making the employees suspended in corruption charges attend offices. The group claimed that the authorities concerned remained indifferent while the suspended officials were trying to attend the offices illegally with an intention to put the corruption charge in shadow and refused regular services to the service recipients. The group demanded that the employees involved in such activities should be taken legal action. The dispute followed when the DDC officials, who were suspended for two months on corruption charge, attended the office on October 30. Meanwhile, the DDC Officials claimed that they were forced to stop works after the cadres of Madhesh Kranti Forum manhandled and misbehaved with the DDC officials, Laxmi Narayan Mahato, and Madan Mohanlal Karna. RSS Nnnn 13 INJURED IN VEHICULAR ACCIDENT Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: Thirteen people have been injured when a bus overturned at Gaindakot in Nawalparasi district along the East-West Highway Friday morning, RSS reports. The bus (Na 3 Kha 6114) heading for Danda from Narayanghat skidded some 10 metres down the road near the Jayashree Bridge, the Area Police Office, Gaindakot, stated. Meanwhile, locals and police personnel rescued the people injured in the mishap. The injured have been undergoing treatment at the Medical College, Bharatpur. RSS Nnnn HURDLES IN WAY OF ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: As inter-party dialogue for new Constituent Assembly elections gathers momentum, election officials feel holding the polls next April is a tall order for the Election Commission. There are constitutional, political and logistical hurdles to overcome for the elections to materialise in the spring of 2013, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Nepal’s climatic conditions offer only two windows for elections—spring and autumn—and it is already too late to hold the polls this year. Apart from contentious constitutional, financial and political hurdles, there are other possible pitfalls, not least the possible fallout once census details are made public, say EC officials. With the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) all set to make public the census data, one delicate task could be the delineation of electoral constituencies. The EC is constitutionally bound to review the delineation of a constituency. “Since constituency delineation is the most sensitive issue, it may take a lot of time,” said Acting Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety. In the run-up to the CA polls in 2008, the Commission for Constituency Fixation divided electoral constituencies on the basis of the density of population. In the Tarai, a constituency comprised 100,000 people while it was 70-80,000 in the mid-hills and 7,000 to 10,000 in the mountain region. “Political parties must immediately decide on whether to review the delineation of electoral constituencies or accept the previous ones by amending the constitution,” said Uprety.The Interim Constitution bound parties to delineate 240 seats based on the 2001 census statistics. CBS is now preparing to make public the final data of the 2010-11 census. Another hurdle is the purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Ballot Units, as the commission races against time for digital voter registration with photo and finger prints. The EC is now hamstrung by budgetary constraints. In the first week of October, it had asked the government to release Rs 1.64 billion to purchase EVMs from India, but the government has taken no concrete measures for the same. The EC requires 150,000 electronic ballot units and 55,000 control units, excluding batteries and totalizers, to materialise its plan to hold digital elections. According to EC officials, manufacturing and supply of EVMs take at least three to six months after the procurement contract is finalised. The EC has registered around 10.10 million eligible voters under the digital voter registration system. Once all the hurdles are cleared, the EC would still need at least 120 days for preparations. “We need 120 days after all the hurdles are cleared. It is up to the parties to make timely preparations for holding elections in mid-April,” Uprety said. The government is yet to clear legal and constitutional hurdles, which has forced the EC to express its inability to hold elections in November. The government’s plan to amend electoral laws through ordinances was rejected by the President Ram Baran Yadav, citing lack of consensus among the parties, while efforts to amend the Interim Constitution have gone futile after ruling and opposition parties could not strike a power sharing deal. The retiring of all election commission ers in January is also considered a hurdle to mid-April polls. Uprety and two other commissioners—Aayodhi Prasad Yadav and Dolakh Bahadur Gurung—will be retired by January next year. Officials maintain that it is, therefore, very necessary that the parties strike a deal on polls and ensure that the EC functions in the capacity of a commission and not as an election office. The EC will cease to function as a commision if commissioners are not appointed. nnnn