The National Assembly election will be held on February 7.
The emergency Cabinet meeting called at four Friday afternoon decided to hold National Assembly election on February 7, according to Commerce Minister Min Bahadur Bishwokarma. The Election Commission (EC) had recommended February 8 to the government.
The government, however, has not appointed seven provincial chiefs after failing to forge consensus among political parties. Baluwatar sources said appointment of provincial chiefs will take a few more days.
The EC had told the government to appoint provincial chiefs before announcing election date to complete the electoral college for National Assembly election. Provincial chiefs have to administer the oath of office to the recently elected provincial assembly members to make them eligible to vote for the National Assembly.
Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba had proposed to appoint provincial chiefs through political consensus in the all-party meeting called by him at Baluwatar on Thursday. Four national parties including Nepali Congress (NC) had been positive toward the proposal but the largest party in the parliament CPN-UML showed apathy saying that the Constitution has authorized the government to appoint provincial chiefs.
