By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Feb. 10: The government has decided to hold the elections in 40 districts of four provinces in the first phase and in 37 districts of three provinces in the second phase.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday made public the election programme by identifying the number of districts and provinces to hold the elections in the first phase on April 30, and in the second phase on May 10.
Speaking at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Tuesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung said that the government had begun preparations to conduct the elections on the stipulated dates, and the government was all ready to hold them successfully.
"The government is prepared well to hold the elections and has urged the Election Commission, Nepal to seriously engage in preparations of making and publishing the election programmes," Minister Gurung said.
As per the Cabinet decision, the elections in the first phase will be held in Province No. 2, Gandaki, Lumbini and Sudur Paschim while they will be held in Province No. 1, Bagmati and Karnali in the second phase.
Meanwhile, Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the ruling Nepal Communist Party led by its chairman Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was the official party although the factionalist group had been claiming to be official. "The Election Commission and the ruling NCP only understand that the official party today is under the command of Prime Minister Oli, and the signatures of the factionalist group led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda could not be eligible and enough to claim the party's official recognition," Minister Gurung said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting decided to form a 12-member Nepali delegation led by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali to attend the 46th General Assembly of the United Nations Human Rights Council virtually.
Similarly, the government also decided to appoint Hitendra Dev Shakya to the post of the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority. Before this, Shakya was handling the electricity monopoly as its acting executive director.
Likewise, the Lumbini Cable Car Pvt. Ltd. was provided 6.27 hectares of national forest area in Rupandehi and Palpa districts on lease for 25 years. The government has also given permission to relocate 1,338 poles and fell trees to set up the cable car station.
Similarly, the government endorsed the 9th amendment to the Education Regulation-2077 B.S. As per the decision, the Province governments are authorised to run the SEE examinations. The Cabinet also endorsed the temporary vacancies to be opened in the Election Commission, Nepal.
Also, the Cabinet meeting held on February 1 decided to extend the term of the two DIGs of the Armed Police Force, Khadka Bahadur Rai and Mandeep Shrestha by a year. DIGs Rai and Shrestha's term was expiring on February 9, 2021.
Colonel (technical) Gajendra Nath Karmacharya and Lt. Colonel Jagat Shahi of Nepali Army were promoted to the post of Brigadier General and Colonel respectively.
Likewise, the placed him in the additional pool.