Local polls on May 13: Govt.

Five party coalition government has decided to hold the local level elections on May 13.

A Cabinet meeting on Monday took a decision to this effect, according to cabinet sources. The Cabinet meeting was underway till the evening to take decisions on various concurrent issues.

Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) had suggested the government to hold the local poll on April 27 if the government wanted to hold it in a single phase. The election body had proposed May 18 as another date for conducting the poll if the government wanted to hold the poll in two phases.

According to sources the government decided to hold the election on May 13 in a single phase as the Local Level Election Act does not envisage a vacuum of elected leadership at the local level. The term of local level representatives is due to  expire on May 19.