The Election Commission has published the schedule of parliamentary elections. For the election to be held on February 21, the commission has fixed the time for registration of political parties from 1 November to 10 November.

Meanwhile, there has been confusion about who will call an all-party meeting between President Ramchandra Paudel and Prime Minister Sushila Karki to create a political environment for the elections.

Political parties including Congress, UML, Maoists are expecting President Paudel to gather all-party consensus for the elections. President Paudel is in favor of the Prime Minister taking such an initiative as the Chief Executive.

In this context, Jaisingh Mahara for Kantipur with the former chief election commissioner who worked in various positions in the planning, management and implementation of the five elections after 1990 Jaisingh Mahara

:

On 23 and 24 August, an interim government was formed for the purpose of election after the Gen-G movement. The Election Commission has released the election schedule only on Monday. Have you seen the environment where the elections can be held on February 21?

Until yesterday, it was only heard that discussions were being held between the Election Commission and the government. Today, the Election Commission has announced the schedule of the election. Finally the Election Commission has spoken about the election.  The government is the first to speak about the election. But the government did not speak and has not. But the government seemed to be doing something.

The ordinance was introduced after the law was obstructed for the collection of the voter list . The Election Commission has extended the time to register the voter list for those who have reached the age of majority. It is seen that the Election Commission has just started its work, so we have to see how it progresses and can only say.

The Election Commission is discussing holding the elections in a single day and it seems that less time has been allocated for election campaign this time than in the past. Will it be enough?

It is possible to hold elections in one phase. Past practice has also shown that this is possible. Whatever is sufficient in my opinion . It depends on how all parties, including the government, move forward. Because now with the update of the voter list, the election needs  What is the condition of the equipment ?  What is the staff situation? What is the condition of the district election offices? How many districts have election offices? It seems that there should be information about the condition of how many have been destroyed or are closed. If everything is in good condition, then there is no hassle to set up this office . Otherwise, it takes time to set up these offices. Likewise, the central data server and the data server of each district should be operated. What is the status of it? These data servers must be operational . Whether it is possible to do that or not  . What's up with the laptops . All these materials are required. When talking about human resources, what is the situation of people, are there employees in the district? It is possible to comment on the election situation only by evaluating all these.

Looking at the government's activities so far, what do you see?

It seems that the formation of this government was initiated by the President to elect the House of Representatives. The first task of this government was to complete the Election Commission. It was supposed to be done the next day. Now there is a chief commissioner and one commissioner vacancy in the commission. How can an incomplete commission work? Is it possible to conduct the election by acting chief commissioner and two commissioners only? They can conduct

elections, but it seems that it will be difficult. But in the meantime, it seems that the decision-making process has taken a long time . Maybe the government delayed it and not only the Election Commission. Due to the election government, it is felt to be a bit slow . But the duty of the government is to fulfill the assigned responsibility. That responsibility is to hold elections. So what does the Election Commission need? The government should prioritize what is lacking in the Election Commission and start working.

How much time does the Election Commission need to manage manpower and resources for the election and what should the Election Commission provide?

As far as I know, the government should first be clear about all these things. Now the people, the voters and the responsible persons or the stakeholders along with the civil society and the international community should also prepare an environment for supervision . It is necessary to create a national and international monitoring environment to see and check the fairness of the elections along with the political parties. All these aspects have to be worked on in faith . For that, along with the Election Commission, the government should also play a role . 

You talked about political parties .  The current government does not seem to have any dialogue with the political parties. Do you see the need for the government to communicate with the parties or not?