Baidhya and Chand-led Maoist parties won’t be able to contest local polls: EC
Kathmandu, February 27
Mohan Baidhya-led the CPN Revolutionary Maoist and Netra Bikram Chand-led the CPN Maoist parties won’t be able to take part in local level polls as they have not registered their parties with the Election Commission.
EC officials said those parties did not register with the EC although they knew they had to register to contest local polls.
Baidhya and Chand-led Maoist parties are splinter groups of the Unified CPN-Maoist now called CPN-Maoist Centre.
The election body started preparations for local level polls to be held on May 14 after the government announced the poll date.
“Baidhya and Chand-led Maoist parties will not be allowed to contest the local polls,” EC’s Secretary Gopinath Mainali told The Himalayan Times. He said that the commission had published notice twice urging all the parties to register with it, but Baidya and Chand-led parties did not show any interest in registering with the EC.
The agitating forces, including Madhesi parties have, however, registered their parties with the EC, said Mainali.
A total of 113 parties, including the agitating Madhesi parties have registered themselves with the EC within the given deadline.
Earlier, the commission had urged all political parties to register within one month after a notice was published on January 9.
CPN Revolutionary Maoist leader Dinesh Sharma, however, said that the EC never asked new political parties to register and only urged the existing parties listed with the EC to renew their registration. He said that his party’s upcoming meeting would decide whether or not to participate in the local level polls.
The CPN Revolutionary Maoist had boycotted the second Constituent Assembly election.
CPN Maoist leader Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma said they would not take part in local polls as the political course after the second Constituent Assembly had reversed the agenda of change.
“The current parliamentary system serves the interests of the compradors. The state and the government are anti-national and anti-people,” he said, adding that the mainstream parties were not ready to renegotiate the comprehensive peace agreement, and in such a
situation, his party believed that armed revolution could alone ensure justice in the country.
Meanwhile, the EC has started registration of political parties listed with the commission from today.