Tarun Dal demands voting rights for 1.8m youths

KATHMANDU, July 11: Nepal Tarun Dal (NTD), a sister wing of Nepali Congress, has demanded that the voting rights of about 1.8 million youths who were not eligible to vote in the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008 be ensured.



A team of NTD leaders led by Chairman Uday Shumsher Rana on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to Commissioner of the Election Commission (EC) Dolakh Bahadur Gurung demanding voting rights for 1.8 million youths. [break]



The interim constitution states that those who would turn 18 by 15 December, 2006 shall be eligible to vote in the 2008 CA election.



"If the CA election is held as per the interim constitution, about 1.8 million youths who became eligible to vote after 2006 will be deprived of their voting rights," reads the memorandum submitted by NTD.



NTD has also termed the prime minister´s announcement of fresh CA election as "unconstitutional, non-political and undemocratic".



They have also argued that holding a new CA election announced "unconstitutionally" would also contravene the interim constitution.



EC has already urged the government to amend the laws related to election in the interim constitution.

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