Kathmandu, March 29: Except the Maoists, none of the Nepalese political parties wants to hold the constituent assembly election in June.

Nepalese political leaders pay lip service in public to holding the election on time. But the apprehension is that whichever party publicly admits the impracticality of the constituent assembly election in June would be seen as weak.

Individually, however, they all talk of postponing the election till November. India’s advice to the Nepalese government apparently is to hold the election in June itself, because once it gets postponed it would be a major challenge to hold it later.

Prime Minister G.P. Koirala, however, told The Telegraph: “The election has to be held in June or the situation may worsen.”

He argued that the constituent assembly alone could legitimise the present political arrangement.

However, none of the political parties has got into election mode either by mobilising cadre or gearing up party machinery. And the delimitation of constituencies according to population and geography has not even begun.

“Setting the June date for the constituent assembly election was wrong scheduling because of over-enthusiasm,” claimed senior Nepali Congress leader Chakra Prasad Bastola.

“The expectation from the UN — its mobilisation and functioning — also does not seem to be in consonance with holding the election in June. Nearly 4,000 UN personnel are yet to report in Kathmandu.

“The minimum law and order condition necessary for holding an election does not exist and the necessary legislations for conducting polls have not been enacted. The Maoists also do not seem organisationally prepared for an election. So where is the ground for holding the election in June?” Bastola asked.

Former Prime Minister Suryabahadur Thapa said he was no exception to saying that the election must be held in June. But he felt that lack of preparation by the election commission meant the schedule would not be kept.

“The bigger question is: what is the aim of this election? This is not a routine election to elect a new parliament. It is for electing a constituent assembly which will change the basic structure of the state, decide on the monarchy, move Nepal from a unitary to a federal system and make our polity inclusive by giving due share to the Madhesis, Janjatis, minorities and women. These are complex issues on which people have to be educated,” Thapa pointed out.

The leaders of the eight parties, he claimed, could not decide these issues. “They do not have the right to do so. That right lies with the Nepalese people. That is the meaning of the sovereignty of the people. However, the people live in the fear of the Maoists and their militia about whom nobody talks. How can a captive people exercise their sovereignty?” he asked.

He feared, however, that the international community and the UN would somehow force an election in June. “There will be trouble during the election and bigger trouble afterwards,” he predicted.

Former Prime Minister Sherbahadur Deuba has already demanded the election be postponed by an all-party consensus.