They have issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the EC and the local administration to keep the PLA fighters off the election campaign. The by-election is scheduled for Friday.
“If the local administration failed to keep the PLA fighters, who are patrolling the villages and intimidating the people, off the campaign, we will have to take strong action against them,” said CPN-UML central committee member Khaga Raj Adhikari, after an all-party meeting held at the district election office.
The parties claimed that their candidates were not safe in the district because of the groups of “unidentified people”, obviously the PLA combatants, patrolling the villages.
Adhikari accused the administration of trying to stage a drama of election rather than holding free and fair polls.
Nepali Congress district president Yagya Bahadur Thapa demanded immediate action against those who captured citizenship certificates of the people and burnt down other parties’ flags during the elections. “Attempts were being made to turn the election into a war. It (election) should not be used as a preparation for an attack on a military barrack. It should be confined to war of ideas.”
Local in-charge of the Unified CPN-Maoist Biushnu Poudel, however, claimed his party had not used any PLA combatant for campaigning.
Chief District Officer Madhav Ojha assured the parties of taking initiatives to control any form of intimidation in the polls. The District Administration Office has banned nighttime movement of people in Kaski-1 from Wednesday till the election results come out.
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