The Development Committee of Parliament on Wednesday directed the government to formulate all the necessary laws regarding elections and submit them to the Cabinet at the earliest.

As per constitutional provisions, local, provincial and federal elections should be held within the next 17 months. The government first needs to hold local level elections, but laws are yet to be formulated for the same due to differences among political parties over the number of local units under the federal system. The Local Level Restructuring Commission (LLRC) has proposed 565 local units under the federal setup.

“Earlier the parties were not happy with the existing structure. Now that the LLRC has proposed 565 units, some parties want the same old structure. Parties must take a decision at the earliest,” said Rabindra Adhikari, chairperson of the committee.

Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Hitraj Pandey informed the committee about the government preparations to conduct local polls in March-April.