CAPITAL’S MORNUBG TEMPERATURE 3 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 25 Dec.: Tuesdsay’s capital morning temperature is 3 degrees Celsius. Mercury is expected to rise to 17 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Nnnn Dn EC CONDITIONS OF APRIL/MAY ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 25 Dec.: At a time when the government has been reiterating that it will conduct fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) polls by mid-May, the Election Commission (EC) has made it clear that it would be unable to hold the polls if legal hurdles, among other concerns raised by the constitutional body, were not addressed by next week, Republica reports.. At a meeting with top leaders of CPN-UML held at the EC office in the capital on Monday, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung and Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav urged political parties to forge consensus on issues related to holding CA polls. "If you want to conduct CA polls by mid-May [as announced by the government], we urge you all to forge consensus at the earliest," Yadav said at the meeting. The EC officials said legal and constitutional hurdles should be removed by next week. They also said the vacant positions at EC should be filled and political parties should fix the date for election through consensus. "The government has only said that it will conduct CA polls by mid-May but we need a specific date so that we can start preparations for conducting the polls," he added. Acting Chief Election Commissioner Gurung and Commissioner Yadav said they would need 120 days to prepare for the polls after the legal hurdles are cleared. They also made it clear that it would be difficult to print ballot papers and use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) if the constitutional body is not given sufficient time to prepare for the polls in accordance with existing laws. The EC officials said they also need time to update the voters´ list and register absentee. A senior EC official said that the constitutional body would not be able to take any decision if the political parties failed to forge consensus by next week as Acting Chief Election Commissioner Gurung and Commissioner Yadav will retire by the second week of January. The terms of both Gurung and Yadav will expire on January 11, while the posts of chief election commissioner and two commissioners at EC are already lying vacant. At the meeting, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal said the political parties are likely to forge consensus on holding CA polls within four or five days. "The parties are close to consensus, I hope it will materialize within four or five days," he added. Nnnn PM BHATTARAI REACHES OUT TO NC YOUTH Kathmandu, 25 Dec.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has tried to himself reach out to Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala through NC´s youth leaders expressing dissatisfaction over Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal´s ´failure´ to properly communicate his (Bhattarai´s) ´positions´ on handing over the government leadership, Kosh Raj Koirala writes in Republica.. On Monday, Prime Minister Bhattarai, who is also a vice-chairman of the UCPN (Maoist), sent a ´proposal´ for consensus to NC President Sushil Koirala suggesting to him indirectly not to believe in Dahal´s remarks that the prime minister was stepping down ´anytime soon´ for consensus. Prime Minister Bhattarai in his ´proposal´ forwarded to NC President Koirala has clearly said that he will quit only after the opposition parties first agree on a ´package deal´ on various issues concerning the peace process and fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) polls and then join his government for ´sometime´ to transform it into national consensus government. The prime minister´s overture comes at a time when top leaders of opposition parties have been boycotting him for the past several weeks, making him unable to communicate his positions directly to them. In a meeting with a group of NC´s youth leaders including Chandra Bhandari, Gagan Thapa and NP Saud , the prime minister had complained that even NC´s interlocutors involved in the inter-party talks had failed to communicate his ´real position´ to NC´s top leadership. In the message sent informally to Koirala, the prime minister has proposed NC President Koirala to first agree to arrive at consensus on holding fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) polls by mid-May, resolve legal and constitutional hurdles relating to the polls, fill vacant positions in various constitutional bodies and complete the remaining tasks of peace process including forming the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and settle rank determination of Maoist combatants, who have chosen to join the national army, according to the prime minister´s aide Bishwadeep Pandey. The prime minister has then proposed that the opposition parties including the NC should join his cabinet to give it a shape of national consensus government for ´brief period´ and only after that he would quit to pave the way for NC to head the government. "The prime minister has proposed to form national consensus government in two stages: First transform the current government as national consensus government with the participation of opposition parties for some time and then form new national consensus government under NC´s leadership to hold the poll," said one of the NC leaders, who is entrusted to convey his proposal to NC´s leadership. In his proposal, the prime minister has also clearly told that the Maoist party would not accept NC or UML´s leadership in government if they disagree with his proposal. Bhattarai has also proposed alternative government leadership of United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), or small parties or an independent person with political background if the opposition parties were not willing to accept his proposal for consensus. Prime Minister Bhattarai had called a group of NC youth leaders Monday morning to convey his conditions to NC president. The meeting with the NC´s youth leaders comes a day after the prime minister publicly threatened to boycott opposition parties if they boycotted him. nnnn