In some districts, cadres of the fringe parties, especially the CPN-Maoist, which has vowed to thwart the CA polls at all cost, have seized equipment and documents used in updating the voter lists. In other districts, CPN-Maoist cadres have warned of untoward incidents if the district election offices do not halt the voter registration work. [break]
The CPN-Maoist, led by Mohan Baidya, has claimed that they have interfered with the voter registration drive in two-thirds of the districts. "We have disrupted the voter registration process in around 50 districts so far," said Shree Ram Dhakal, central office secretary of the CPN-Maoist, adding, "We intend to disrupt the process throughout the country."
On Thursday, CPN-Maoist cadres vandalized the district election office in Baglung. According to Tol Raj Upadhyaya, the district election officer, Maoist cadres, all of them masked and wielding iron rods, vandalized computers, photocopy machines, printers and telephone sets. "They just barged into our office and vandalized whatever they found," said Upadhyaya, adding, "They were in no mood to discuss anything with any of us."
According to DSP Surendra Bahadur Gurung, chief of Baglung District Police Office, CPN-Maoist district in-charge Tek Bahadur KC and district secretary Gyamnath Gaire were briefly detained following the incident and later freed. Ananta KC, Dil Bahadur Pariyar and Binod Thapa were among the CPN-Maoist cadres who vandalized the election office, said DSP Gurung.
Earlier this week also, CPN-Maoist cadres had disrupted the voter registration in Baglung.
In Chhatrebanjh VDC of Kavre district also, CPN-Maoist cadres disrupted the voter registration campaign on Thursday. They tried to snatch away a laptop used in updating the voter list. When the election officials prevented the CPN-Maoist cadres from walking away with the laptop, a minor scuffle ensued.
"What we did at Chhatrebanjh is part of our nationwide campaign to foil the CA polls," said Dipak Devkota, CPN-Maoist district secretary. "We will disrupt the voter registration in other VDCs of Kavre also."
In Jambukandh VDC of Dailekh district, CPN-Maoist cadres organized protest programs to disrupt the voter registration.
Later on Thursday, an all-party meeting chaired by Chief District Officer Homnath Thapaliya decided to deploy 10 armed security personnel at each centre set up for listing the voters. "We have requested local leaders of the CPN-Maoist to organize their protests peacefully," said Thapaliya. "If they become aggressive, we will deploy more security personnel."
Meanwhile, groups of CPN-Maoist cadres visited district election offices in Dadeldhura, Baitadi and Bajhang districts to warn the election officials to halt the voter registration right away. "They have warned us that they can do anything if we do not halt the registration," said Bhakta Raj Joshi, district election officer of Dadeldhura.
The CPN-Maoist, a breakaway faction of the UCPN (Maoist), has vowed to disrupt the CA polls, dubbing the Chief Justice Khila Raj Regmi-led interim election government as ´unconstitutional´ and ´engineered by foreign powers´. "The CA polls are impossible unless the CJ Regmi-led government is dissolved," said CPN-Maoist office secretary Dhakal.
In the face of continuing disturbances by the CPN-Maoist, the EC is finding it challenging to update the voter list across the country, something that needs to be accomplished well before the CA polls.
However, the government says it will leave no stone unturned to get the CA polls held either in June or by mid-November. Only on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) decided to beef up security for the smooth functioning of the district election offices, following a series of attacks by CPN-Maoist cadres.
(With inputs from Dilip Poudel in Baglung, Govinda KC in Dailekh, Madhusudan Guragain in Kavre and Barun Paneru in Dadeldhura)
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