By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Maoist supremo Prachanda Sunday denied having suggested postponement of the constituent assembly election, saying his party was committed to holding polls on Nov 22 as scheduled.
“It is a regrettable propaganda against us,” Prachanda said in a statement Sunday. “It has been unleashed by the same elements who deferred the election from June to November in violation of the peace pact we had signed with the government.”
Prachanda said his party had asked the government to ensure the election was held as scheduled.
The chief of the formerly guerrilla party startled the country Friday when he was widely reported as saying that the constituent assembly election on should be postponed to next year if it did not ensure abolition of monarchy.
“It would be better to defer the polls than hold a panchayati-style election,” Prachanda had said at a public programme in the capital, referring to the partyless system prevailing till 1990 when the king was supreme.
He had also said that with hundreds of his party cadres still missing and their families facing hardships, it was difficult to ask the grieving relatives to vote.
Prachanda had indicated that an election held in April next year would be more real.
The remarks had created a stir with the political parties as well as business community demanding that the election be held in time to end the uncertainty.
A strong reaction was also expected from the international community, that has warned Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala that his government would lose credibility if it failed to hold the election a second time.
The growing speculation that Prachanda’s statements proved that the Maoists were afraid to face the election was not put to rest by other senior Maoist leaders.