Over 350 arrested on anti-poll charges
KATHMANDU, Nov 23: The government has intensified searches for top leaders of the Netra Bikram Chand (Biplab)-led Communist Party Nepal (CPN), following the increasing number of incidents of attack against election candidates and poll campaigns, at a time when the country is on the verge of key elections.
PM terms Chand outfit a criminal gang
After Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba directed security officials to clamp down on anti-poll activities, pointing to the involvement of the Chand-led CPN, the security forces have expedited their search operations for the semi-underground senior leaders of the CPN.
Police have detained up to 350 leaders and cadres of the outfit including a former lawmaker within the period of a week in an attempt to control the anti-poll activities. According to highly-placed sources, a former lawmaker and CPN leader Sarala Regmi was arrested from Kathmandu on Tuesday and kept under custody by police at Teku for her alleged involvement in the anti-poll activities.
Police informed that 14 leaders and cadres of the CPN have been arrested from Kathmandu within a week, including CPN central committee member Manik Lama and Ramila Maharjan. Lama was arrested by a special police bureau from Shantinagar and Maharjan was arrested from Kirtipur. Lama has been found to be involved in anti-poll activities. His daughter Nabina Lama, who is also chief of the CPN-UML's student wing, is busy canvassing votes for UML candidates. She is also a UML candidate for parliament under the proportional representation category.
