KATHMANDU:  Leaders of the ruling coalition have agreed to hold local elections in coming Baishakh (April-May). However, the formal decision will be made by next meeting after further homework.

According to sources, the Tuesday morning’s meeting of the senior leaders of the ruling coalition agreed to hold the local level election in the time proposed by the Election Commission.

A meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar this morning to discuss the upcoming local elections.

After the discussion, government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki informed the media that they had agreed to hold the election on time.

“The parties in ruling coalition agreed to hold the election on time, further decision on the issue will be made after next meeting on Thursday,” he said, “The leaders have agreed to finalize this issue after more homework.”

The Council of Ministers is also scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday. It is likely that Thursday’s cabinet will formally decide on the issue.

However, CPN-Maoist Center leader Dev Prasad Gurung said that no decision has been taken on the date of local elections.

“Elections will be held according to the constitutional provisions, but the date has not been decided yet. As CPN-Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Nepal and Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav were absent,  we discussed on various theoretical issues only,” he said.

The Election Commission has suggested the government to hold local level elections on April 27 and May 5. Officials of the Election Commission (EC) met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on December 24, and drew his attention to start preparations for the local elections.

Attorney General Khamma Bahadur Khati, who reached EC to understand the constitutional and legal aspects of the election, was also told by the commission officials that the local elections should be held in Baishakh i.e. by Mid-May.