Want poll date announced

Kathmandu, June 6:

Calling on the government to announce the date for the constituent assembly elections, the Citizens’ Movement for Democracy and Peace (CMDP) staged a sit-in at the Maitighar Mandala today.

Hundreds of civil society members and professionals participated in the sit-in. The CMPD has urged the government to adopt the system of total proportional representative in the elections. Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Matrika Prasad Yadav was among the politicians who joined the sit-in.

“We have been seeking a sincere commitment of the government towards the matter,” Dr Devendra Raj Pandey of the CMPD said.

“Price hike, scarcity, insecurity and educational strikes have hurt the feelings of citizens expressed through the popular April Movement,” he said.

Dr Sundar Mani Dixit, another leader of the civil society movement, said the “parties and leaders have not been able to agree on the date for polls because of their vested interests and lack of political will.”

During the sit-in, poets wrote poems on democracy on canvases and artists painted on them. Some artistes also staged a street drama, portraying the nature of political leaders and aspirations of the commoners. Calling on the government to follow the Supreme Court verdict on disappeared people, Krishna KC, Jitman Basnet an Bhim Bahadur Basnet staged a hunger strike in front of the parliament.