Kathmandu, June 8

Chair of the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Upendra Yadav said he was confident that his party would win a good number of seats in the second phase of local level polls.

Addressing an interaction at Reporter’s Club Nepal here today, Yadav said he was open to forging electoral alliances with political parties that were strongly committed to the republican order, inclusion and federalism. “We are open to forging alliances with the Nepali Congress, the CPN-Maoist Centre and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal or any other party that supports the agenda of change,” he added.

Yadav expressed hope that the RJP-N would participate in the second phase of civic polls scheduled for June 28. “In the prime ministerial election, RJP-N lawmakers voted for Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is a non-Madhesi, and therefore, I hope that they will not oppose our candidates in the polls who will be Madhesis,” he added.

The FSF-N chair also said if the ruling parties could ensure passage of the constitution amendment bill before the polls, that would further help build the environment for the local level elections.

Yadav was of the view that the state had discriminated against Madhesis, Janajatis, women, Muslims and Dalits and that unless the discrimination against deprived communities was put to an end, it would be a challenging task to restore peace and ensure stability and economic prosperity in the country.

Yadav said the new political gains were in peril and in order to safeguard those achievements, the constitution should be amended and all three levels of elections — local, provincial and central — should be held within stipulated deadlines.  He further said the constitution should be amended in a way that it could gain broader acceptance.