Surkhet, March 27:

The Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army armed fighters have been leaving their camp in the eastern part of Surkhet to campaign for Maoist’s constituent assembly poll candidates, a report of the INSEC, Surkhet chapter, said today. During a a press conference organised to make its report public, the INSEC said PLA fighters from the Jeet memorial brigade stationed at Kholteypani have been leaving camp with arms and ammunition and moving around in the district’s constituencies.

In Kalyan, Dashrathpur, Gumi, Lekhpharsa and many other VDCs, the PLA fighters along with local Maoist cadres are accusing other parties of distributing money to voters and disrupting their poll campaigns.

The INSEC report said that the PLA fighters were violating the Election Commission’s election code of conduct and no effort was being made from any quarter to stop them. It added that the report was prepared after a detailed study of the PLA’s and political parties’ doings.

In Surkhet’s eastern part Ramghat, where a bridge over Bheri River joins Ramghat to Dashrathpur, banners have been hung over the bridge. Some parties have also got posters made larger than the stipulated size. Some candidates are making promises and trying to influence the voters, said the report released by Surkhet INSEC coordinator Bishnu Pokhrel.

Pokhrel said that at Maintada VDC, activists of the pro-Nepali Congress Tarun Dal have set up a post beside the road, hung up ribbons and streamers and were exacting money from vehicle drivers. Some parties were using schools as election meeting venues and even handing the students the poll invitation letters to take home to their voter parents, the report said.

Pokhrel said the voter orientation teams of volunteers deployed by the EC have not reached door-to-door at many places in the district.