By NNN-PTI/Nepal News
Kathmandu : Maoist Chief Prachanda has claimed that he will become the first president of Nepal after the crucial April 10 Constituent Assembly elections, even as he expressed doubts over the prospect of polls taking place on schedule.
In an interaction programme at Rajbiraj, an eastern Nepal town, Prachanda claimed that his party Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) would get 150 seats out of a total of 300 seats in the direct election, and that he will become the first president of the Himalayan nation after the polls.
He also sounded a note of apprehension over elections taking place on the scheduled date. “I am not confident that the CA elections will be held on the stipulated date,” he said.
Meanwhile, the daughter of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Minister without portfolio Sujata Koirala was also apprehensive about the elections to the Constituent Assembly taking place at the stipulated time.
Expressing concern over recent Maoist attacks against leaders and cadres of other political parties, she raised suspicion that the polls would be affected if the activities of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League activists did not stop immediately.
The Maoists had recently attacked and severely injured Nepali Congress candidate Bal Bahadur K C in Solukhumbu and CPN-UML leader K P Oli in Morang while they were launching election campaign.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said it is in the final stage of preparations for the April 10 constituent assembly election.
In a statement on Friday, EC said recruitment and training of election officials to be mobilised in polling booths is underway. Thousands of employees in government departments and community organisations, including teachers, have been roped in for election purposes.
The EC also asked these provisional employees to rise above political bias and actively fulfill their duties to make sure that the historic elections are conducted successfully.
Meanwhile, the EC has expressed concern over reports of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) members coming out of their camps in combat uniforms.
Election commissioners Friday sought clarification from UNMIN chief Ian Martin regarding these reports and urged the mission to effectively carry out the monitoring process.
During a meeting held at the EC, Martin assured the commissioners that the UNMIN would keep the PLA combatants under strict monitoring.
Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung said, Friday, that the environment for the election to Constituent Assembly (CA) slated for April 10, has improved.
Amidst reports of rising incidents of confrontation among political parties throughout the country, Gurung claimed that the situation in majority of the districts were satisfactory.
He, however, admitted that the number of districts with peaceful environment have decreased from 61 to 58 in the recent days as the incidents of confrontation among the workers of political parties increased.
Speaking at an interaction organised by Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) on ‘Ways of conducting CA polls peacefully,’ Gurung asked the major political parties to keep their commitment to improve the situation.
Referring to his involvement in earlier elections as a civil servant, he claimed that incidents of violation of election code of conducts were nominal this time compared to earlier polls.
At the programme, leaders of Maoists, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) accused each other for poll code violations.
Human Rights activist Krishna Pahadi and HURPES president Purusottam Dahal asked the EC to take action against the violators of code of conduct immediately.