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Constituent Assembly Election in Nepal
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
Kathmandu, April 10: Voting for the election for a Constituent Assembly (CA) has began at 7:00 A.M. local time and ended at 5:00 P.M. In this election 17.6 million Nepalese voters are going to vote. By 1:30 P.M. 40% to 50% voters have already voted; if this trend continues, about 70% voters would vote in this election.
Following the electoral code of conduct, the Election Commission (EC) has stopped the political parties and candidates from holding rallies, sloganeering and all sorts of publicity, and stopped the press from disseminating news and views on any political party and candidate during the shut-up period starting on the midnight of April 08 until the end of the election.
It is highly commendable that the Home Ministry has successfully managed the security situation throughout Nepal despite the challenges posed by the dissident groups in Terai and the royalists vowing to disrupt the election. The usual skirmishes among the cadres of different political parties have continued but not seriously threatening the election.
The government also put the Nepali Army on the alert for dealing with any sorts of possible troubles during the election. The Nepali Army has used its helicopters to help the EC in transporting the electoral materials to the remote areas and to ferry the high-ranking government officials.
The Home Ministry also hired five MI-17 helicopters for aerial patrolling the highly sensitive areas from the security points of view a few days before the election. The Home Ministry also has kept one MI-17 helicopter and three small-size helicopters in Kathmandu to airlift the security reinforcement if required anywhere in the troubled area, and rescue the seriously injured victims of possible conflicts and violence.
On April 07, addressing the welcome party held at his official residence in honor of the chiefs of the foreign groups including former US President Jimmy Carter coming to observe the election in Nepal, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said, "This election is much more important to Nepal that is why you are here. You are not only observers, but you should also take responsibility to make the election a success. Your success lies in the success of the election.” The observation team led by General Saiyud Kerdphol noted that Nepal has been a role model for other countries in the region for its ability to successfully engage all concerned parties in dialogue and enter into an alliance with them to create an environment for holding the Constituent Assembly elections according to ‘The Rising Nepal’ of April 08, 2008.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, April 09, Chief of the United Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin has said that the Security personnel killing seven Maoist cadres and injuring several others in the Dang district have demonstrated the excessive use of force and the political partiality according to ‘Nepalnews.com ia Apr 09 08’. Mr. Martin said, “an UNMIN team is already on the spot investigating the Dang events, and another team is traveling to Surkhet to investigate the shooting of CPN-UML candidate Rishi Prasad Sharma in the constituency -1 of the Surkhet district.” The Election Commission has postponed the election in the Surkhet constituency No. 1 to April 19 due to the death of the CPN-UML candidate.
The Home Ministry has confirmed that seven Maoist cadres such as Min Bahadur Pun, Shital Chaudhary, Shivlal Chaudhary, Pun Jung Sen, Labaru Chaudhary, Amar PM, Chet Bahadur Budhathoki were killed and 12 others injured when policemen providing security to Nepali Congress candidate in Dang-1, Khum Bahadur Khadka, opened fire at them as stated by ‘Nepalnews.com mk/ps Apr 09 08’
