Pressure mounts on the ruling Nepali Congress to put the constitution amendment bill on hold and announce the date for the local elections immediately.

In a move supportive of the stance taken by the main opposition CPN-UML, most of the Congress leaders attending a meeting of the party’s present and former office bearers on Sunday urged the party leadership to put the bill on hold for the sake of the elections.

The UML has been obstructing Parliament since November 29 protesting the constitution amendment proposal registered by the government. As a result, endorsement of the bills related to the elections has been delayed.

NC General Secretary Shashank Koirala told reporters that a majority of the party leaders urged the leadership to announce the local level elections, a crucial step in implementing the constitution adopted last year, at the earliest.

Amid the delay in forming the local bodies in the spirit of the new constitution, the NC has said the polls can be held under the old structure of the local bodies.

According to a source, almost all the leaders present at the meeting held at the NC Parliamentary Party office in Singha Durbar talked about the dangers of a failure to hold the three layers of election by January 2018, the constitutional deadline. NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel said the parties should focus on implementing the constitution.

Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba told the meeting that it would be difficult to hold the elections until the Madhes-based parties, which have been protesting against some provisions of the constitution, come on board.

Some leaders argued that announcement of the date for local elections would create pressure on the UML and other opposition for allowing the House to function.

Poudel said the party would also find parties consensus among the forces including the UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) for announcing the elections.

The joint meeting of top leaders will continue on Monday.